Press
While Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers the draft budget to be successful, criticism comes from the opposition – and from the Bundeswehr.
Berlin – On the night of Friday (5 July) an agreement was reached in the budget dispute: The traffic light coalition drew up a draft for the federal budget for 2025. The FDP had insisted on compliance with the debt brake, which was taken into account in the traffic light compromise. The defense budget received less than demanded. Against the background of the tense geopolitical situation in the world, the opposition and armed forces Need for improvement.
What the draft federal budget for 2025 contains
One Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court got the traffic light coalition into trouble: In November 2023, the highest court in Germany declared the supplementary budget unconstitutional. Suddenly around 60 billion euros were missing from the budget. Politicians from the traffic light coalition had also repeatedly called for a reform of the debt brake.
But Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) prevailed: The current draft does not foresee any budgetary emergency, for example due to expenditure on the Ukraine War and adheres to the debt brake. A way has been found to finance both the country’s important tasks and the aid for Ukraine, “without leading to restrictions here,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) about the draft budget.
Child benefit and child allowance will be increased, and more will be invested in the country’s infrastructure, the Chancellor stressed, adding: “The federal government’s investment budget is increasing dramatically.” The defense budget is 52 billion euros, only around 1.2 billion euros higher than in the previous budget. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had previously demanded six billion euros more. In view of these figures, criticism of the draft budget also came from within the government’s own ranks. “The result of the internal government budget talks does not correspond to what we need in the defense sector,” said SPD budget expert Andreas Schwarz to the Daily Mirror.
Federal budget 2025: Where the opposition believes savings have been too high
The President of the Reservist Association, Patrick Sensburg, was even clearer in his conversation with the Editorial Network Germany: “This will not make us fit for war.” This is disappointing, said the former CDU member of parliament, warning: “In fact, there will be gaps everywhere.”
The chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, André Wüstner, made similar comments in an interview with German Press AgencyAn increase of 1.2 billion euros “does not do justice to the current threat situation and certainly not to Germany’s responsibility in the world.” The troops are “surprised, mostly shocked.” Despite the declaration of a turning point, no change in perception has occurred, said Wüstner.
CDU security expert Roderich Kiesewetter also called for improvements in the defense budget. “What we need now is a quick, genuine re-prioritization in the budget that will enable a stable and increased defense budget,” said the politician on Augsburg GeneralIn the long term, the debate about the financing of the Bundeswehr will probably have to be reopened anyway. The 100 billion euro special fund expires at the end of 2027. By 2028, the defense budget is to be 80 billion euros annually – but it is unclear how this will be achieved. This counter-financing has not yet been found and is also “significantly higher than our problem of the last two or three days or last night,” said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) on Saturday. (bme with dpa)
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