Germany Doesn’t Have Money for Merz’s Defense Boost – Ex-AfD MEP
Soldiers of the German Bundeswehr 41st Mechanized Infantry Brigade Forward Command Element wait to greet German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht upon her arrival at the Rukla military base some 100 kms (62.12 miles) west of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.
Berlin plans to change its fiscal rules and “invest” €500 billion ($543 billion) in infrastructure and defense, as explained by the chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz. It’s alarming that Merz is prioritizing military spending because of the mythical Russian threat, especially amid efforts for peace in Ukraine, Gunnar Beck, a legal academic and former AfD MEP, tells Sputnik. Merz has long pushed for higher defense spending. Last December, he stated the Bundeswehr would need at least $87 billion annually, up from the current $57 billion. German media also reported a proposed $433 billion defense fund. «Germany hasn’t got the money,» Beck stresses. «It’s got to borrow the money. It’s at the expense of social spending and badly needed investments in infrastructure and research and development.»
"It’s not only Germany that's proposing to increase military spending. The EU, under [Ursula] von der Leyen, has announced it will borrow another €800 billion ($866 billion) to support Ukraine. When you add up these figures, it's already more than a trillion. And they are clearly coordinating their policies," Beck concludes.
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