Change in the budget for 2024
Federal government doubles military aid for Ukraine
November 12, 2023, 3:13 p.m
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Ukraine has been resisting Russia’s invasion for more than 600 days. Next year the country is set to receive more military aid than previously planned. The traffic light doubles the amount and makes a change to the budget for 2024.
According to a media report, Germany is doubling its military aid to Ukraine next year. The traffic light coalition had agreed on the sum of eight instead of four billion euros, reported “Bild am Sonntag” (BamS), citing information from the Federal Ministry of Defense. Spokespeople for the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Ministry of Finance did not comment on the content of the report when asked and referred to the ongoing parliamentary procedures. On Thursday, the Bundestag’s Budget Committee will discuss the final expenditure for 2024 in the so-called adjustment meeting.
The BamS quoted the SPD budget expert Andreas Schwarz as saying: “Doubling military aid is right and important. This will back up our promise to Ukraine with the necessary money. That we will also increase the NATO quota at 2.1 percent is a great success of the traffic light.” NATO countries have committed to investing at least two percent of their respective gross domestic product in defense.
The FDP defense politician Markus Faber wrote on Sunday at X: “In 2024, we will double our military aid to the invaded Ukraine from 0.1 to 0.2 percent of our economic output. This includes the replacement of the Bundeswehr and is an important sign of continued support against Putin’s war of aggression.”
Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner only commented generally on the subject of military spending at X. “After the turn of the century, we emphasized the importance of national and alliance defense. We will take this into account permanently beyond the phase of the special program. There is no other way to put it: it is a financial policy challenge,” he wrote.
The federal government set up the special fund of 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz from the SPD associated this with the term “turning point”. On Friday at the Bundeswehr conference, Scholz described the special fund as an important first step and promised significantly higher defense spending in the double-digit billion range into the next decade. Germany will reach NATO’s two percent target for the first time next year.