Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted Germany to revisit its defence posture, which increasingly suffered from a lack of investment since the end of the Cold War as imminent threats appeared to diminish. The legislation must now pass through Germany’s two houses of parliament. It could come into force in May of next year.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that the Bundeswehr needs around €58 billion ($63 billion) in 2025 to quickly close capability gaps. “As things stand, we will be allocated around €52 billion”, he said, adding, “That means we will be short of almost €6 billion next year.”
“The Russian army increases its number of tanks by 1,000 to 1,500 additional units every year. The five largest European NATO member states together have just half of that in their inventory,” said Germany’s chief of defence Carsten Breuer.
Scholz’s coalition has faced criticism over the small increase in the 2025 budget for defence. “In 2017, we still spent €37 billion ($42 billion) on defence. Now, with the use of the special fund, the Bundeswehr‘s budget is €75 billion. That’s more or less a doubling,” Scholz said.
The U.S. and German governments announced plans for the deployment of U.S. missile systems that could reach Russia. These include nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometres, SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly-developed hypersonic missiles.
Deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said that Orbán could travel wherever he wanted, adding, “What is not acceptable is that he travels through the world with the impression that he is doing so on behalf of others. And there will certainly be further discussion about how to deal with this.”
Economic researchers and partners in the ruling coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz have warned of immense economic costs and legal difficulties that could result from plans for military conscription proposed by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius in June in an attempt to boost the numbers of the German armed forces.
Russia has criticized the planned stationing of long-range US weapons in Germany as a return to the Cold War, after German leaders said the step was necessary due to the increased threat posed by Russia to European security. “We are well on the way to a Cold War. This has all happened before,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
German politicians voiced their outrage on Friday after a CNN report detailed an alleged Russian plot to assassinate the head of German arms maker Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, as a Kremlin spokesman denied any involvement from Moscow.
The European Space Agency (ESA) described the operation as a success, as Europe seeks to recover from a crisis in its launch sector, although an auxiliary drive in the upper stage, which was supposed to burn up on the way back to Earth, stopped shortly after ignition, with the two re-entry capsules not being released and the upper stage now remaining in space with the two capsules.
While French troops had left the military-run country last year, the last U.S. troops are also expected to imminently depart the country, with Russian troops already on site to take their place after creating a presence in Mali and Burkina Faso, also taken over by the military.
German military spending is set to increase by only EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.3 billion) under the terms of the preliminary 2025 national budget agreed on Friday, far below the demands of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
Germany has delivered a third Patriot air-defence system to Ukraine, authorities said on Friday. Kiev received its first modern US-made Patriot system in April 2023 and now has four.
The Bundeswehr says it plans to commission up to 6,500 Unprotected Transport Vehicles over the next seven years, with an agreement for the production and production of transport vehicles in the load classes 3.5 tonnes, 5 tonnes and 15 tonnes by the Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicle (RMMV) GmbH company in an order that could be worth up to EUR 3.5 billion.
“Yes, I give this guarantee,” Scholz said in response to a question in the Bundestag parliament on Wednesday, echoing comments he had made before. “That’s what I stand for as chancellor.”
