The second largest contributor after the US plans to halve its military spending in 2025 for the benefit of Kyiv.
A cut in aid to Ukraine: Germany, the second-biggest donor after the US, wants to halve its military spending by 2025 to benefit Kyiv, continuing to support the country with money generated by frozen Russian assets.
Olaf Scholz’s government, seeking budget savings, did not plan “No more help” Kyiv has included 4 billion euros in its draft budget for next year to help the military, a parliamentary source told AFP on Saturday. Beyond the 8 billion euros of funding already approved, kyiv will have no additional envelope this year.
The newspaper said the decision was the subject of an agreement between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Liberal Party Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) in its weekend edition.
It already has consequences: at present “No new orders have been initiated for Ukraine as they are no longer funded”Member of Parliament Andreas Schwarz, a member of the budget committee and an expert on security issues, told the weekly.
According to FAS, in July, it was not possible for Kyiv to finance the IRIS-T type anti-aircraft defense system. Outside the 2024 budget, the defense ministry wanted to order artillery munitions and drones this year, the newspaper said.
Russian assets
The decision adds uncertainty to the future of military support for Kyiv, while US military aid is also at risk if Republican Donald Trump is elected to the White House.
According to the FAS, Berlin projects a ceiling of three billion euros for 2026 and more than half a billion annually for 2027 and 2028. To compensate, Germany counts “Creating a financial instrument using frozen Russian assets within the framework of the G7 and the European Union”However, a finance ministry source told AFP. “German bilateral aid is at a very high level, but depends on the effectiveness of this instrument”Added proof.
Ukraine’s allies have been working for months on a device that would make it possible to use part of the $300 billion in Russian assets frozen around the world to support Kyiv in its war against the Russian military. A “Political Agreement” A US proposal aimed at financing 50 billion euros of debt between G7 countries found the certainty in mid-June. But till now the concrete implementation of this scheme has not started.
Berlin departs, however “Based on the principle that these funds will be used from 2025 onwards”Added parliamentary evidence. “The West, and therefore Germany as the largest European contributor, will not relax its support for Ukraine”AFP German liberal MP Carsten Klein, a member of the budget committee, promised.
It is true that the finance minister wrote an open letter to his defense counterpart Boris Pistorius (SPD) on 5 August. “certainty” According to FAS, next year’s budget will respect the 4 billion ceiling.
“Donald Trump Style”
The 2025 draft budget is the subject of fierce debate within the tripartite coalition between the Liberals, Greens and Social Democrats.
Mr Lindner asked his colleagues to make savings out of respect “Credit Ban”A constitutional provision aimed at preventing the state from becoming over-indebted.
The draft budget still needs to be debated in parliament and is expected to be adopted by the end of the year.
The Christian Democratic opposition (CDU), which has the upper hand in national polls ahead of regional elections in September, wants to put pressure on the government, with allies in several states in the country’s east at stake. Budget debates will take place in the fall.
“Coalition plays Donald Trump-style politics by withholding more aid to Ukraine over domestic political dispute”X regretted Saturday, CDU deputy Norbert Rotgen.
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