Despite new elections: money should be flowing to Ukraine

Berlin. The chairman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marcus Faber, wants an increase in Germany’s defense investment to 3 percent of annual economic output due to the election of Donald Trump as US President. “This year, Germany is achieving NATO’s 2 percent target for the first time,” the FDP politician told the German Editorial Network (RND). “Donald Trump always wanted this in his first term in office. Germany therefore has a good basis for future negotiations. “

He said: “But it is clear from NATO’s capability planning that the 2 per cent will only be a minimum in the future. That means we are talking about 3 percent of the gross domestic product being spent on defense. So we should invest more in our own security.”

Robert Habeck also wants more money

Nominated candidate for Chancellor of the Greens, Robert Habeck, had asked the Union to approve a new special fund for the Bundeswehr before the federal election.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Bundestag and Bundesrat anchored a special fund worth 100 billion euros in the Basic Law. It is a given among defense experts that this will not be enough if Ukraine loses the war, Russia continues to gain military strength and the US leaves Europe to fend for itself.

At the same time, some defense policy projects are on hold due to the upcoming new elections. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said there was little chance of his model of a new military service. He intends to bring back military registration and introduce an obligation for young men to provide information about their willingness to do military service. This is not going far enough for the Union. Pistorius said that work would continue to be done on other projects. SPD defense expert Andreas Schwarz has now made a similar statement.

“We continue with our protection policy despite the end of the traffic light coalition,” he told the RND. “I don’t see the Union’s attitude of rejection here, but a sense of responsibility. Last week, procurement proposals for 1.5 billion euros were on the agenda of the responsible committees, this week there are about 500 million. We spent about 7.1 billion euros on Ukraine in 2024 ‘parts of the 4 billion euros planned for 2025 could flow despite temporary budget management The aim is to find solutions together.