Foreseeable pay increases for soldiers will reduce the scope for investment in the defense budget.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The arbitration recommendation in the collective bargaining dispute for the public sector strengthens Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) in his call for a higher defense budget. In view of the foreseeable pay increase for the soldiers, the calculated increase in personnel costs of two percent is unlikely to be enough. So Pistorius would have to save elsewhere, for example in procurement.
In the deadlocked collective bargaining dispute for the federal and local governments, the arbitrators’ proposal provides for the payment of a tax and duty-free inflation premium of a total of 3,000 euros by February 2024. From March, wages and salaries should then increase by 5.5 percent, but at least by 340 euros.
Next weekend, the collective bargaining partners want to continue negotiations on the basis of the proposal. If an agreement is reached, the unions want the agreement to be transferred one-to-one to federal officials and thus also to the soldiers.
Personnel costs account for 20.6 billion euros of the planned total expenditure of 50.1 billion euros in the regular defense budget for 2023. A strong pay increase would make itself felt here.
For this reason, Pistorius would also like to get Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Parliament to increase the defense budget by ten billion euros a year. However, Lindner had canceled a cabinet decision planned for March on budget figures for 2024 because his cabinet colleagues’ requests for additional spending amounted to 70 billion euros.
CDU politician Vieregge: Tariff increases must not be at the expense of the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr
There is also a 100 billion euro special fund from which armaments projects are to be financed. But that doesn’t help with the personnel costs.
Green housekeeper Sebastian Schäfer accuses Lindner of not having sufficiently taken into account increases in personnel costs in his financial planning: “Inflation and wage pressure in the public sector have been apparent for some time,” said Schäfer. Of course, these are particularly effective in personnel-intensive areas such as the Ministry of Defense with the Bundeswehr. “Without sufficient provisions for tariff increases, the budget process of the Federal Minister of Finance becomes a gamble.”
CDU defense expert Kerstin Vieregge also expressed criticism. “The wage increase in the public sector is correct, but in view of the current security policy situation, it must not be at the expense of the operational readiness of the Bundeswehr,” she said. The government must therefore finally adapt the financial planning for the defense budget to the security policy situation.
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