Berlin circumvents its own Constitution to modernize its army

It’s a small revolution: Germany decided on Sunday May 29 to override its Constitution in order to modernize its army. In three months and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two taboos have been broken in Germany. The first when Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to finance the modernization of the army and also to allow German arms to be supplied to Ukraine.

>> War in Ukraine: Germany will increase its military spending, a major change of course

Since the end of the Second World War, Germany has been marked by pacifism and a desire for non-belligerence. Projecting the Bundeswehr into external theaters of operation has long been forbidden. And then, at the end of February, Berlin therefore announced an exceptional and colossal effort of 100 billion euros for Defence. But it was still necessary to ensure the financing of this envelope. And this is where the second taboo fell on Sunday evening May 29. To release this sum, Berlin chooses debt.

Except that the German Basic Law, the Constitution, prohibits – or in any case drastically restricts – the possibilities of a budget deficit. It was therefore necessary to circumvent the Constitution: obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament to create a special fund outside the budget. A compromise obtained on Sunday evening after negotiations between the majority social democrat-ecologist-liberal coalition and the center-right opposition of the CDU. It is an event because the Fundamental Law is considered as an almost sacred text among our neighbours. Departing from it is therefore indicative of the shock caused by the war in Ukraine.

This electric shock is also provoked by the discovery of the state of the German army. Until now, the Germans have been dusting this topic a bit, precisely because of the taboo. And now they realize it’s a bit of a disaster, according to the conclusion of a parliamentary report published in mid-March. The strength of the Bundeswehr has grown from 500,000 men 30 years ago to 184,000 today.

>> Defence: is Germany going it alone in Europe?

The soldiers lack the most basic equipment: bulletproof vests, helmets, backpacks. Breakdowns are recurrent on equipment, fighter planes, tanks, helicopters. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht recognizes this herself: of the 350 Puma tanks available to the army, only 150 are operational. Less than half. It’s even worse for the Tiger helicopters: 9 operational out of 50! What does Olaf Scholz himself say? It seems huge, it’s so obvious: “We need planes that fly and ships that hold the sea“.

The whole question is now how these 100 billion euros will be spent and this is where it will perhaps get complicated. On paper, this is a considerable budget. It will allow Germany to finally comply with NATO rules which provide for the allocation by each country of at least 2% of its gross domestic product to Defence.

The priority is theoretically the multi-annual budgets for equipment, the major armament projects. And we also think of the two Franco-German projects, the tank of the future and the plane of the future, two somewhat stuck projects. But environmentalists and social democrats also want to use this envelope to fight against cyberwar. And then, who says more equipment, also says more maintenance budget, more operating budget. It promises some battles in Parliament. Nevertheless, Germany has just experienced an ideological revolution in the space of three months.


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