Published on: 30.05.2022 – 14:41
That was the promise made to the Bundeswehr three months ago. The announcement of this unprecedented €100 billion fund was seen as a turning point in a country that has long neglected its army. The fund is permanently anchored in the constitution and is not included in the budget deficit. Tedious discussions were necessary before the agreement was reached on Sunday.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut
“Germany needs airplanes that fly, ships that go to sea and soldiers that are properly equipped.” In his Bundestag speech a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Olaf Scholz surprised his world with an announcement intended to break with the Bundeswehr’s chronic underfunding. A fund of 100 billion euros should enable an under-equipped army to be upgraded. The fund must be enshrined in the constitution to be guaranteed, which requires Conservative approval to secure the necessary qualified two-thirds majority.
Used only for military equipment
For the liberal finance minister, who wants to return next year to the strict fiscal rules suspended because of the pandemic, the fund has the advantage of not being included in the deficit calculation.
Painstaking discussions preceded the agreement, this Sunday, 29. The fund will only be used for military equipment, as the Christian Democrats wanted. In the medium term, Germany wants to meet NATO’s goal of spending 2% of its gross domestic product on military spending. But will the finance minister, who wants to cut deficits, accept that? And is the money blessing from the budget used sensibly? The extremely long delays between ordering equipment and its delivery imply structural reforms in the Bundeswehr, which will take time before the additional money makes sense.
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