Press
Negotiations for the 2025 federal budget have only just begun. But cracks are already starting to appear in Pistorius' defense budget.
Berlin – Strengthen Germany’s defense capability and meet NATO’s two percent target. These seem to be the political goals of the moment. With the words “Without security everything is nothing,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) underlined this just a few weeks ago at the Munich Security Conference.
The federal government provided 100 billion euros in special funds for the Bundeswehr in June 2022. But despite the special fund, there is already a lack of money in the defense budget. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) confirmed this Daily Mirrorthat is already planned for 2025 a financial hole of 4.5 to 6 billion euros opens. According to his own statements, the minister also informed the government factions about this at the beginning of the budget negotiations for the coming year.
Union criticizes “disastrous Bundeswehr finances”: Traffic light has managed poorly
In this context, the CDU budget politician Ingo Gädechens, who is responsible for the defense budget, expressed sharp criticism of the traffic lights. He told the government that the “disastrous situation with Bundeswehr finances” itself “caused it with full eyesight.” Daily Mirror.
Before the start of the budget negotiations for 2025, ministers and the Chancellor made it clear that no savings should be made on defense. A project that will not be easy to implement without savings in other areas or a relaxation of the debt brake.
The Bundeswehr is threatened with a financial hole of 56 billion euros as early as 2028, reported Mirror and cited internal financial needs analyses of the Ministry of Defense.
Money for the Bundeswehr: Germany reached the NATO target for the first time since the 1990s
At the Munich Security Conference on February 19, Scholz assured that Germany would meet NATO's two percent target not only this year but also in the coming years. NATO demands that member states spend two percent of national economic output on defense. For the first time since the early 1990s, Germany will have met this goal in 2024.
Even in view of the already looming hole in the Bundeswehr's budget for the coming financial year, it remains unclear how Scholz's promise can be kept.
Pistorius sees security threatened without Bundeswehr investments
In a speech in the Bundestag a few weeks ago, Pistorius emphasized how crucial it was to become “war-ready”. Not only would the NATO two percent target not be met due to a hole in the defense budget, the much-requested defense capability would also fall by the wayside. “Our common security costs money,” emphasized the minister in the Bundestag. (pav)
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