Most Germans say defence industry investments justifiable

Employees at Rheinmetall work on a cannon for the Leopard 2A4 battle tank in Lower Saxony, Unterluess on June 06, 2023 | File Photo: Philipp Schulze/dpa

By Alexander Sturm, dpa

Frankfurt: More than half of Germans have no issue with profiting from the arms industry – a sentiment that has grown since the start of the Ukraine war and the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Over 56 percent of respondents polled by the opinion research institute Innofact said private investments in the arms industry were justifiable.

Of these 21.4 percent think they are “definitely justifiable” and 34.9 percent “somewhat.”

By contrast, almost 31 percent found such investments “rather reprehensible” and almost 13 percent were firmly opposed in the survey of 1,012 people conducted in May.

The poll was commissioned by Verivox, a portal that helps consumers compare financial products, and was made available to dpa on Sunday.

“Whether it is legitimate for private investors to want to earn money themselves by investing in arms manufacturers is still controversial today,” said the portal’s managing director Oliver Maier. “But the majority situation has changed.”

In a Verivox survey conducted in 2022 before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 53 percent of respondents still had reservations about investing in defence companies.

Since then, shares in defence companies have risen immensely. The prospect of higher government defence spending in Germany and many other countries has driven many stocks to record highs.

The United States has for months been pushing Europe to invest more money in defence.

At the NATO summit in The Hague that starts on Tuesday, under pressure from Trump, it is to be agreed to invest at least 3.5 percent of national Gross Domestic Product in defence in future – with a potential extra 1.5 percent earmarked for infrastructure that can be used for defence purposes.

Uncertainty as to whether the U.S. would stand by a NATO country under attack also influences the issue.

Around 30 percent of respondents find private defence investments more justifiable than before the Trump administration, while 18 percent consider them more problematic.

The survey shows that German men often find investments justifiable – around 64 percent. Women in favour are in the minority.