The conflict between the ministries of finance and defense of Germany over increasing the military budget

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, newspaper ” Tagus Spiegel wrote in an article: Next week, different departments in Germany must present their final budget ideas to the finance minister of this country. German Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he wants more money for this sector.

German Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is worried that if the coalition If the government does not agree to spend more than two percent of the GDP on defense in the current budget negotiations, the budget of the German army will be reduced. He told the newspaper Tagus Spiegel that here it is not only a question of the permanent implementation of the commitment to NATO to the extent of at least two percent of the GDP for military purposes, but it is also a question of covering the immediate needs to prepare the German army for war. According to this ministry, therefore, careful alignment and focus with the minimum quota of two percent is not enough. There are investments that cannot be covered by the special assets of the German army alone. According to him, these assets will be fully allocated in the projects by the end of this year. It currently calls for military spending of at least 2.2 percent of GDP. This figure will be more than 90 billion euros. Meanwhile, the initial budget program presented by Christian Lindner, the German Federal Minister of Finance, has so far only included 52 billion euros. Pistorius wants 6.5 billion more in the regular budget.

The rest must come from the special fund or from other sources. The additional budget of the army in the special fund is a total of 100 billion euros. However, according to current plans, this amount will be fully spent by almost 2027. According to the belief of the German Ministry of Defense, from 2028 onwards, it will no longer be possible to continue financing the procurement projects that have been started through the special fund.

The spokesperson of this ministry said: This will be a fatal signal for the security of citizens, our allies and the industry. “As a result, the strict alignment with the two percent quota leads to a shortage of Bundeswehr equipment.” It is currently thinking about another special fund or its increase, which has been decided in 2022. Andreas Schwartz, the budget politician of the Social Democratic Party, warned about any kind of shortfall in this regard and said: the finance minister should be enthusiastic. Boris Pistorius is approaching the 2025 budget and matching his words with action.

Schwartz meanwhile said a defense budget at the expense of welfare state reforms, but peace It endangers the social. Without renewing the debt brake, Lindner will not be able to create a budget with financial planning.

“Boris Pistorius wants to follow his way in the budget negotiations. Christian Democratic Party defense politician Ingo Gedchens told “Tags Spiegel” about this: when the constitutional change was approved in favor of the special fund for the army, The union was promised that the government coalition known as the traffic light would allow the defense budget to grow significantly year after year.

The faction announced: The guidance has failed to fulfill this promise and now we realize that the German army is on the verge of financial ruin. But if the Traffic Light Coalition deliberately caused this financial misery, it must now find a way out.

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