The German Chancellor Olaf Scholzcalled this Tuesday to the urgent and mass production of weapons in Europe to deter Russia in the face of continued attacks on Ukraine. He did so after laying the foundation stone for a new munitions factory in northern Germany. A “deterrence” that the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, has shared.

“We do not live in peaceful times. Whoever wants peace must be successful in deterrence and needs a solid industrial base to defend themselves,” Scholz said in a message on the X social network.

The chancellor expressed his gratitude to all those who have made the expansion of the Rheinmetall facilities in Unterlüß. Scholz symbolically placed the first shovel of earth in the company of the German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, the head of the Rheinmetall council, Armin Papperger, and Frederiksen, who declared herself “pleased” to participate in the event.

“We need to strengthen our defense industry to be able to continue supporting Ukraine and provide strong European deterrence and defense against the threat from Russia,” Frederiksen also highlighted in X.

The new Unterlüß plant is scheduled to be completed in 2025 and will manufacture about 200,000 units of ammunition per year for different types of weapons, including German-produced howitzers delivered to kyiv. According to what Papperger told the newspaper Tagesspiegel this Tuesday, the company will supply Ukraine this year several hundred thousand units of ammunition and has set a goal of manufacturing up to 700,000 per year in 2025.

Papperger added that in 2024 it will obtain about 15 billion euros in orders from the State, which represents approximately 20% of the company’s business volume.

Day with protests

A dozens of pacifist activists They protested outside the plant under construction against the arms policy of the German coalition government of social democrats, greens and liberals.

Meanwhile, some 400 farmers came with three hundred tractors, according to police data, to try to block access to the facilities before Scholz’s arrival to protest against the Government. Since the beginning of the year, German farmers have been mobilizing with actions throughout the country with the aim of getting the Executive to reverse the decision to gradually eliminate subsidies for agricultural diesel.