2024-08-22 03:51:32
Sharp criticism from within our own ranks
This is what lies behind the traffic light decision on Ukraine
19.08.2024Reading time: 4 min.
Criticism also from within Germany’s own ranks, concern about the future in Ukraine: This is what the traffic light coalition’s budget compromise means.
The draft for the 2025 federal budget was leaked over the weekend. Despite weeks of negotiations, twelve billion euros are said to be missing, and aid for Ukraine is to be cut to just over half. New aid for the country attacked by Russia is said to no longer be possible.
What does that mean exactly? And how do critics and supporters of the government – and representatives of Ukraine – react? t-online answers the most important questions.
This year, Germany is providing almost 7.5 billion euros for military support to Ukraine, and the government is planning to provide four billion euros for 2025. Funds and deliveries that have already been approved are still to be secured.
- You can read the latest developments on the war in Ukraine in the news blog.
The future problem is that, according to media reports, the money for the coming months has already been largely allocated. According to Finance Minister Christian Lindner, there will initially be no new funds – unless the applicants, i.e. the Foreign and Defense Ministries, ensure that “financing is secured,” as Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) wrote to his colleagues Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Annalena Baerbock (Greens).
According to reports, however, the Finance Ministry announced on Saturday that it was still willing to talk. However, needs must be reported specifically and verifiable – so far, no reports of needs have been received. In principle, the German government is counting on Ukraine being able to receive greater support in the future with the help of interest from frozen Russian state assets. 50 billion dollars are to be released in this way. When this will happen is completely unclear. Moscow calls the plans theft.
Opinions differ on this: According to information from “Bild”, internal documents from the Ministry of Defense accuse the Ministry of Finance of having subsequently “changed the rules of the game”. The Ministry of Finance, on the other hand, points out that the budget for 2025 has already been overbooked. According to media reports, additional applications from the Ministry of Defense will no longer be approved – probably at the request of the Chancellery.
First of all, Lindner’s demand to the coalition partners means that even if the situation in Ukraine changes noticeably, Germany cannot guarantee help. New support must first be clearly financed.
This news comes at a time when Ukraine is reportedly running low on certain weapons and ammunition. Various media reports, for example, refer to an Iris-T air defense system that is currently ready for use and delivery, but will not find its way to Ukraine. The reason: the delivery would officially have been a new project that would have to be re-registered and is not financed.
The German government, however, denies such reports. Both deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner and a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense stressed on Monday that they were false. Ukraine will receive Iris-T systems that are available.
The Chancellery has contradicted the impression that it wants to cut military aid to Ukraine. The Chancellor’s promise that Ukraine will be supported militarily for as long as it needs to defend itself against Russia remains, stressed deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner. Bilateral aid will only be partially converted to multilateral support. German support for Ukraine is not wavering, stressed Foreign Office spokesman Sebastian Fischer.
Several politicians from the traffic light coalition have sharply criticized the decision. Green Party defense politician Sara Nanni told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that it came “at an inopportune time” and would have “direct effects on the protection of the civilian population in Ukraine.”
The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Roth of the SPD, criticised: “The Ukrainian army is on the offensive again for the first time in months, the country now needs the full support of its most important military ally in Europe, Germany. Instead, the debate about the future financing of military aid seems like a disguised retreat by Germany from responsibility,” said Roth. “We cannot make our security dependent on budgetary constraints.”
The chairwoman of the Defence Committee in the European Parliament, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), wrote on Platform X that support for Ukraine would not be cut – aid would have to be expanded. “But this is only possible together with our European partners, from whom we are also demanding more commitment than before.”