Spiegel: Poland, Germany fail to agree on tank repair center for Ukraine
The Polish and German governments have so far failed to agree on opening a maintenance center in Poland to repair Leopard tanks supplied to Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on July 2.
Poland and Germany cannot agree on several key issues of the repair facility, the cost of which could reach 150 million euros, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
One of the controversial issues is the cost of the initial diagnostics of tanks.
Polish defense company PGZ intended to charge 100,000 euros for such diagnostics but in Germany the price is almost ten times lower.
However, according to Der Spiegel, German tank manufacturers consider the controversy surrounding the project to be politically motivated, as Poland's ruling Law and Justice party regularly makes statements against the German government.
On July 3, Pistorius will hold a meeting with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak to discuss the tank project during a visit to a Patriot air defense system in the Polish city of Zamość.
The project was supposed to involve two German tank manufacturers, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, as well as PGZ, or Polish Armaments Group.
The repair facility was expected to be created at factories in two Polish cities, Gliwice and Poznan, and the costs of repairs would be covered by the German government.
To date, several damaged Leopard tanks have already arrived in Poland from Ukraine.
Asami Terajima
