During his trip to the USA, Defense Minister Pistorius reiterated Germany’s willingness to increase military spending. The debt brake should not restrict this further, he said. Finance Minister Lindner disagrees.
According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the debt brake must not further restrict spending on the Bundeswehr. On the sidelines of a visit to New York, he called for defense spending and parts of crisis preparedness to be excluded from the debt brake.
In his argument, Pistorius referred to the constitution, in which both the debt brake and the defense capability of the armed forces are anchored. “The debt brake would remain in place, but spending on defense and civil protection would not be included,” he said. His company has drawn up a legal opinion on this.
Colliding Constitutional norms
Pistorius spoke of a “constitutional concordance”. This describes a situation in which equal constitutional norms collide with one another, but one norm should not take precedence over the other. Intergenerational justice includes leaving behind few debts, but also setting the course for a secure life.
“Life in security is an essential basis for our free, democratic basic order,” said Pistorius. “We should strengthen our security again today with the same consistency with which we have reaped the peace dividend for years.”
Lindner: Reallocating funds instead of taking on new debts
Finance Minister Christian Lindner reacted immediately. “Unfortunately, colleague Pistorius only shows the option of creating security through debt. This means that citizens are being saddled with more and more permanent interest burdens,” he said. “The better way is to reallocate money in our large state budget and get the economy going.”
Special assets are running out
In 2028, the so-called special fund for the Bundeswehr with a pot of 100 billion euros will be spent, but Pistorius wants significant increases in the regular defense budget for next year because otherwise there would be a risk of an “arms freeze”. “There will be no easy answer to the question of where all the money we need will come from to close the gap,” said Pistorius, who reported his need to Lindner.
“We are talking about an additional requirement of 6.5 to seven billion euros for the coming year. The additional requirement will continue to grow in the years after that because the special fund will be contractually bound and therefore exhausted from the end of this year,” said Pistorius. “We have to be honest: from 2028 onwards, a not insignificant double-digit billion increase will be necessary.”