Sunday, January 03, 2021
Pandemic questions plans
Inspector General sees Bundeswehr targets in danger
According to Inspector General Eberhard Zorn, the Corona crisis will also affect the defense budget. The top soldier of the Bundeswehr expects that the troops will have less money in the future.
According to its highest-ranking soldier, the Bundeswehr must expect that less money than hoped will be available to the state treasury in the future because of the corona charges. "As a citizen, I see what the pandemic requires in terms of money to keep the economic system alive," said Inspector General Eberhard Zorn of "Welt am Sonntag".
"There will certainly be a cash drop after Corona. I think we will have to review our military goals afterwards." The result "must then be realistically coordinated with our NATO partners in Brussels. It makes little sense for us to mutually set goals that no allied can maintain due to the Corona budgetary burdens."
Zorn said Germany had clearly committed itself to NATO's planning goals, which were set at the Wales Summit in 2014. This also applies to the goal of bringing defense spending closer to the guideline value of two percent of gross domestic product. "In my opinion, the political will to modernize the Bundeswehr and to prepare it for tasks in the context of national and alliance defense is clearly there." Old certainties and future plans are now being called into question by the corona pandemic.
The so-called two percent target has been controversial for a long time and is again coming under increasing criticism due to the pandemic, as it becomes less meaningful due to economic fluctuations. The economic slump is causing the rate to rise – but should significant growth follow in 2021, Germany could just as quickly move away from the target again.
The federal government has set itself the spending target of 1.5 percent by 2024. The USA, as the most powerful NATO ally, on the other hand, is demanding more financial commitment from Berlin – and should continue to do so after the upcoming change in power in the White House.
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