CDU politician warns about the Bundeswehr: troops can “last a maximum of two days in a battle”

The Bundeswehr’s special fund should take care of it: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wanted to make the troops fit for military service again with 100 billion euros. Scholz even spoke of a “turning point” in February 2022. However, if you believe Union faction deputy Johann Wadephul (CDU), then it only remained with the Chancellor’s announcements. “Decisive troop units can last a maximum of two days in a battle,” he told the German Press Agency.

According to the CDU defense politician, the catastrophic condition of the Bundeswehr has two reasons. On the one hand, Germany continues to deliver weapons to Ukraine, but the ordered supplies for its own ammunition and weapons stocks do not reach the troops: “Even when it comes to purchasing replacements, the Bundeswehr is actually making a loss,” says Wadephul. In the current security policy situation, it is unacceptable that “there is no compensation” for the weapons delivered to Ukraine.

Wadephul: Bundeswehr still “Afghanistan Army”

On the other hand, the restructuring of the Bundeswehr planned by the federal government was stuck in its early stages. Wadephul says he sees “big announcements” but “little actual measures that contribute to the war capability that the defense minister himself claims.” “I see a Bundeswehr that still carries out its procurement processes just as carefully, cautiously and sometimes – I think – with fear as it has in the last 20 years,” said the defense politician.

Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) now also bears responsibility for this, said Wadephul, who took over the ministry from his fired party colleague Christine Lambrecht in January. Several weeks ago, Pistorius declared that Germany had to become “warworthy” again. He asked then clear: For him it is “about the ability to fight a war, not about wanting to wage it.” In other words, “We need to be able to fight a war so we don’t have to.”

However, according to CDU politician Wadephul, the Bundeswehr is currently a long way from this. According to the defense politician from Schleswig-Holstein, he sees a Bundeswehr that continues basic operations as it has for 20 years. It still has the structures of an “Afghanistan Army” that is geared towards international operations rather than national defense. Wadephul also doubts that Germany will be able to put together its own combat-ready division for NATO by 2025, as originally promised.

According to Wadephul, this will probably be “again” a division that will be “collected and cobbled together from across the entire Bundeswehr.” “It will not be equipped with the weapon systems that we need for the Bundeswehr in the mid-1920s,” warns the security politician, “and, above all, it will be under-equipped in terms of personnel and ammunition stocks.”

Without compulsory service there can be no “effective national defense”

Despite the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, which prohibited the federal government from using excess Corona aid for other purposes, Johann Wadephul is sticking to the goal of modernizing the Bundeswehr. The reason: Unlike the billion-dollar “Climate and Transformation Fund” (KTF) and the “Economic Stabilization Fund” (WSF) known as “Doppelwumms”, the Bundeswehr special fund is not up for discussion – because it is enshrined in the Basic Law.

The CDU defense politician is surprised that Defense Minister Pistorius is demanding “ten billion more for the Bundeswehr”. „Einzelplan 14“ for the 2024 federal budget – although “he recorded excellent survey results” and could “exactly justify” the number. That was a “serious political mistake” that is now having a “double” impact, “because of course the scope for budget planning in the coming years will become even narrower.”

Wadephul also believes that compulsory service in the Bundeswehr, disaster control and emergency services is essential in order to ensure Germany’s ability to act in the event of a defense. An “effective national defense” would not be possible without these personnel after compulsory military service was suspended 12 years ago, said Wadephul.

Therefore, it must now be clarified how a service can be made attractive. “This has to pay off in retirement and when using public facilities,” says the CDU defense politician. The Bundeswehr has set itself the goal of employing up to 203,000 men and women in uniform by 2031. There are currently around 180,000 people in uniform serving in the Bundeswehr. (with dpa)