Ten billion on top
Pistorius calls for a higher budget for the Bundeswehr
02/10/2023 3:39 p.m
With 100 billion euros, the Bundeswehr will have a special fund at its disposal in the coming years, but Defense Minister Pistorius is apparently not enough. According to a media report, he needs money for tariff increases and to fill up ammunition depots.
According to a report by “Spiegel”, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants an additional ten billion euros for the Bundeswehr in the coming year. Other departments are also pressing for additional funding. The background to this is consultations with Finance Minister Christian Lindner on the 2024 federal budget, for which the federal government intends to adopt key points in mid-March.
According to the report, Pistorius argues that without increasing the defense budget to around 60 billion euros in the coming year and in the years that follow, the modernization of the Bundeswehr promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz cannot be implemented. Last year, the federal government spent 50.3 billion euros on defense. That was 3.5 billion more than in 2021. The opposition had criticized the fact that spending should fall again somewhat for the current year.
Germany has promised its NATO partners that it will spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on defense. According to a study by the Institute for German Economics (IW), Germany will continue to miss this target in the coming years.
More money is needed, for example, to fill up the largely empty ammunition depots, for which there is hardly any money in the special fund for the armed forces, which is equipped with 100 billion euros. In addition, expected wage increases in the public service would have to be taken into account – since the soldiers belong to the public service, the personnel costs of the Bundeswehr would then increase.
Lindner, on the other hand, argues according to “Spiegel” that the money from the special fund should first be spent to strengthen the Bundeswehr. Nevertheless, the finance minister is ready to increase the defense budget by several billion euros. The money is to be used, among other things, to buy F-35 and Eurofighter fighter jets and other large equipment.
Overall, the additional requests from the relevant ministries add up to 40 billion euros, according to “Spiegel”. However, this jeopardizes Lindner’s goal of limiting new debt to EUR 12.3 billion in the coming year. If the borrowing is significantly higher, Lindner could not meet the requirements of the debt brake.