Germany to approve ‘record high’ defense spending – media
Germany plans to raise its defense spending to a record level amid Russia's military attack on Ukraine, according to a draft budget.
The country's Finance Minister Christian Lindner is supposed to present the federal budget for 2022 and for 2023 to the cabinet on Wednesday with the parliament set to scrutinize in coming days.
According to the AFP, Germany's draft budget earmarks more than 50 billion euros for military spending in 2022, which, according to the news agency's government source, is a “record high.”
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Lindner said that the unfolding conflict in Ukraine and its consequences for the German economy would require additional measures and, therefore, a separate budget.
“We will also submit a supplementary budget to the Bundestag in the next few weeks,” Lindner said.
The increase in defense spending is not the only measure undertaken by the federal government in the wake of Russia's military action. Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier announced that a special fund of 100 billion euros would be set up for modernization of Germany's armed forces in years to come.
The fund will be financed via state debt increase, with the core budget for 2022 envisaging net new debt of 99.7 billion euros plus some additional credit authorizations.
The decision on the major modernization of the armed forces marks a turning point in Germany's previously low military profile. Earlier on Monday media reported that Berlin will replace its fleet of outdated Tornado fighters with F-35 stealth aircraft.
The earlier announcement of providing Ukraine with weapons following Moscow's military offense came as a shock for many as Berlin had consistently refused to provide the eastern European nation with lethal weapons.
Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The protocols, brokered by the French and the Germans, had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
