an agreement reached to bend budgetary rules and release 100 billion euros for the army

A response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In Germany, the coalition in government and the conservative opposition reached an agreement on Sunday, May 29, to break the budgetary rules of the Constitution, in order to release 100 billion euros to modernize the army.

This compromise was agreed after several weeks of difficult negotiations between the parties of the coalition – social democrats, ecologists and liberals. – and the political family of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. The agreement, consulted by AFP, should allow to fulfill Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s promise at the end of February, after the outbreak of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. It is a question of releasing a special fund of 100 billion euros to rearm Germany over the next few years, and to modernize the Bundeswehr, whose equipment is dilapidated.

The exceptional fund will be financed by additional debt. For this, it was necessary to circumvent the rules enshrined in the national Constitution. rules called “debt brake”, which strictly limit the possibility of a budget deficit. Berlin will also be able to achieve the objective set by NATO of devoting 2% of the national GDP per year to defence. This objective will be achieved “on average over several years”according to the text of the agreement.

The release of 100 billion euros for the national army constitutes a major reversal for Germany, which was dragging its feet to comply with the commitments of the Atlantic Alliance in this area.

Germany, since the end of the Cold War, has significantly reduced the size of its army, from around 500,000 in 1990 to just 200,000 today. In addition, military officials regularly complain of breakdowns in their fighter planes, warships or tanks. The invasion of Ukraine acted as an electric shock in a country steeped in pacifism since the horrors of the Nazis.