The traffic light plan to modernize the Bundeswehr has apparently come to a standstill. New figures show the dilemma of German security policy. An additional budget should probably help.
Munich/Berlin – What if Germany was actually attacked? The SPD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag discussed loudly German Press Agency (dpa) recently this hypothetical question against the background of the Ukraine war.
Military spending in Germany: Traffic light government is currently reducing spending on defense
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) relentlessly analyzed the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr: “We have no armed forces that are capable of being defended, i.e. capable of being defended against an offensive, brutal war of aggression,” he said accordingly.
One possible reason: Germany is even cutting its military spending in the second year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is no trace of the “turning point” announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in February 2022. Despite the planned “Bundeswehr special fund” of over 100 billion euros.
We have no armed forces that are defensible, that is, defensible against an offensive, brutally waged war of aggression.
How t-online calculated, the budget for defense in the Federal Republic this year is around 50.1 billion euros. In 2022 it was still 50.4 billion euros, in 2021 it was 47.2 billion euros and in 2020 around 46.1 billion euros.
Defense spending for the Bundeswehr: Germany remains well below the NATO target
What sounds like a lot of money at first clearly misses the formulated goal of the traffic light federal government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP. This is how the Scholz cabinet defined the plan to finally implement the two percent of gross domestic product that NATO wants in defense spending by its member states. But Germany is still a long way from that.
In concrete terms: This year, the share of military spending in gross domestic product is only 1.34 percent instead of the 2.0 percent demanded by the transatlantic defense alliance. In 2021, the proportion of defense spending in the Federal Republic was still 1.39 percent.
In order to achieve the two percent target agreed in NATO, Germany would have to increase its defense budget by an additional 15 billion euros this year dpa declared by government circles in Berlin. Ultimately, a GDP share of 1.6 percent is expected, it said. Actually, according to NATO’s idea, all member states should come closer to the agreed 2.0 percent by 2024.
A turning point in the Bundeswehr? CDU sharply criticizes SPD Chancellor Scholz
At a session of the German Bundestag this Thursday (March 2nd), the CDU and CSU coalition criticized the fact that only 600 million euros of the 100 billion euros in special funds had allegedly been spent. “For years, if not decades, we will no longer have to organize security in Europe with Russia, but security in Europe against Russia,” explained CDU party leader Friedrich Merz and said to Scholz: “And for that, Mr. Chancellor, decisions must be made and not only government statements are made.”
For years, if not decades, we will no longer have to organize security in Europe with Russia, but rather security in Europe against Russia.
The troops felt the consequences: As reported by ZDF, only 90 of the 290 Leopard 2 tanks in the army were ready for action in mid-February. It is now clear that 18 of these will go to the Ukrainian armed forces to defend against the Russian invasion. According to ZDF, eight other “Leos” are stationed with the “enhanced forward battlegroup Lithuania”, which is commanded by the Bundeswehr on NATO’s eastern flank in the Baltic States. That left 64 Leopard tanks for Germany itself at this point. (pm)
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