Monday, December 27, 2021
After the arms export record
Government reiterates plans for control law
After the multi-billion “last minute” approvals from the GroKo became known a few days before the change, the new government reaffirmed its plan to bring more transparency to arms exports. Because especially about the SPD and Chancellor Scholz there are increasing doubts about how serious the traffic light coalition is with strict controls.
After the new record for arms exports in the year that is coming to an end, the new federal government is aiming for a restrictive control policy. “The coalition agreement for the 20th legislative period is very clear,” said the deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner in Berlin. The coalition’s plans include advocating an EU arms control ordinance and a national arms export control law. Büchner pointed out in particular that there would be no arms exports to states that were demonstrably and directly involved in the Yemen war. This also includes Saudi Arabia.
After a government response to a parliamentary question from the left, which became known over the Christmas holidays, the total value of approved arms exports has risen to a new record in the current year. From January 1 to December 14, the federal government approved arms exports worth almost 9.043 billion euros. The previous record was 8.015 billion euros in 2019.
Arms exports doubled in a few days
In its response, the federal government pointed out that since the traffic light government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz took office on December 8, the SPD had only approved exports worth 3679 euros. However, a comparison with earlier inquiries shows that prior to that, from November 29, approvals for around 4.9 billion euros were granted. This in particular multiplied the license value for war weapons.
Meanwhile, the left-wing politician Sevim Dagdelen expressed doubts about Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s announcement that the planned law would make progress on arms export controls. The Green politician’s criticism of arms exports “would certainly be more credible if she did not demand more combat missions by the Bundeswehr and higher military spending at the same time,” said Dagdelen to the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”. “Against this background, the announced arms export control law of the traffic light does not mean anything good can be expected.”