German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will only get at most half the extra cash he wants in his budget for next year, according to people involved in the government’s financial planning for 2024, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.
Pistorius has said he needs an additional €10 billion to lift annual defense spending to €60 billion and help drive Germany’s push to modernize the military after decades of underfunding.
The Finance Ministry would be open to an increase of €3 billion, which could potentially be raised to €5 billion if the government reaped more than expected in tax revenue, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the budget talks are confidential.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz to declare a “turning point” in German military and security policy and he announced the creation of a special debt-financed fund worth €100 billion alongside the regular defense budget.
Boosting outlays on the military has also taken on extra urgency given the amount of weapons and equipment Germany has donated to Ukraine which needs to be replaced.
Scholz also pledged that Germany would meet a NATO guideline of spending 2% of gross domestic product on the armed forces, a goal the government in Berlin had consistently failed to meet, irritating allies in the alliance.