Press
Boris Pistorius fares worse than expected in the traffic light budget. He is missing billions he had hoped for. Now he is expressing his disappointment.
Berlin – The traffic light coalition is in agreement about the 2025 budget. There is little grumbling from the government about the distribution of funds among the departments. Only the Union is, as usual, criticizing the plans of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his cabinet. And even a traffic light politician himself is dissatisfied: Boris Pistorius.
It had actually been expected that Pistorius’s Ministry of Defense could expect a significant increase in the budget. If only because Olaf Scholz had already declared a “turning point” due to the Ukraine war, the broad mood in politics was clearly in the direction of Germany becoming more capable of defending itself and complying with NATO’s two percent target. The Defense Minister now experienced a bitter disappointment with the late traffic light agreement on the 2025 budget.
Less money in the 2025 budget: Pistorius disappointed with traffic light plans
Pistorius had announced an additional requirement of 6.5 to 7 billion euros for the coming year and referred to upcoming armament projects and rising operating costs. The leaders of the traffic light coalition around Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Economics Minister Robert Habeck had approved an increase in the regular defense budget of 1.2 billion euros in the Bundeswehr’s budget for the coming year.
Before the upcoming NATO summit, Pistorius spoke for the first time about the new budget – and showed a great deal of displeasure: “Yes, I got significantly less than I had registered for,” explained the SPD politician, who also saw Scholz’s turning point in danger: “That is annoying for me because I will then not be able to initiate certain things as quickly as the turning point and the threat situation require.”
During military exercise, Pistorius complains about traffic light plans – shortly before NATO summit
Pistorius, who attended the Arctic Defender 2024 exercise in Fairbanks, Alaska, added: “We will see what happens in the next few weeks and months. I have to adapt to it and make the best of it.”
Under German leadership, fighter pilots from several countries are training air warfare operations under NATO standards together with the USA. The alliance scenario (“Article 5”) is assumed, in which an attack on one or more allies is repelled jointly. Around 60 fighter jets and other tanker aircraft, transporters and helicopters are involved in the exercise. They are practicing the destruction of enemy air defenses, fighting against air forces and destroying command centers. Extremely low-level flight at an altitude of just 30 meters – if possible under enemy radar – and the dropping of precision bombs were practiced. In Alaska, an area slightly smaller than the old Federal Republic is available for this purpose.
NATO summit is approaching: Pistorius already announces German steps
The NATO summit, which begins on Tuesday, is about further expanding defense and deterrence capabilities, said the minister. He announced several German steps that are intended to provide military aid to Ukraine. For example, Germany will finance and provide 10,000 rounds of artillery ammunition from the Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine this year. “And we will present a drone initiative in Washington that will create a basis for our partners to jointly procure all types of drones made in Germany for the Ukrainian armed forces,” said Pistorius. And: “A lot is expected of Germany, and rightly so. We are the largest economy in Europe, the largest NATO ally in Europe. We therefore have a special responsibility to assume and are doing so.”
NATO summit starting Tuesday: US election campaign between Trump and Biden overshadows meeting
The NATO summit with celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the defense alliance begins on Tuesday in Washington. It is taking place in a phase of political uncertainty after the suitability of US President Joe Biden as a presidential candidate was publicly questioned. It is unclear where the USA will go if former US President Donald Trump is re-elected in the US election in November. At times he even threatened the USA with a withdrawal from the alliance and criticized Germany in particular. (han/with material from dpa)
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