Some Green MPs want to vote no – and Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal also declared that she does not want to agree to the intended amendment to the Basic Law to improve the equipment of the Bundeswehr. FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki then said the SPD had “the necessary sense of responsibility of a governing party”. He warns the Social Democrats “urgently” against not supporting the 100 billion euro package with “great unity”, Kubicki told the dpa news agency.
“In the discussion, there is now a need for mutual respect for the responsibility of the members of parliament and no lashing out contributions from the Deputy President of the Bundestag,” Roloff told the Handelsblatt. Kubicki has to accept “if others struggle with the severity of a change in the Basic Law for the special fund”.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The Union and the traffic light coalition had agreed on the legal basis for the planned special fund late on Sunday evening after weeks of wrangling. In principle, this gives the green light for weapon orders from the armaments industry on a large scale.
SPD wings expect “broad approval”
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said on Monday that he would not tell any member of parliament how he or she should vote. However, he hopes that the SPD will largely agree.
The Esdar left-wing party assumes that their group will “broadly agree”. The “basic requirements” of the SPD, that the billion-euro fund is a one-off institution controlled by parliament and not at the expense of the many other important projects in the coalition agreement, have been met, she said.
>> Read also: Military expert Mölling: “Implementation of essential armaments projects will become more expensive”
According to Esdar, the issue has been “respectfully and extensively discussed” both within the Parliamentary Left and throughout the group. “It is one of the strengths of the SPD parliamentary group that we weigh such crucial issues carefully,” she said. “It was particularly important to us that the Bundeswehr special fund should not conflict with our peace policy principles,” she said.
The co-head of the Seeheimer Kreis in the SPD, Uwe Schmidt, spoke of a “constructive and good” debate in the SPD parliamentary group with a “clear majority” for the special fund. “One thing is clear: we share responsibility as a coalition,” Schmidt told the Handelsblatt. He emphasized that the SPD, as the largest faction of the traffic light, also lived up to this responsibility.
Agreement on special assets for the Bundeswehr
The spokesman for the reform-oriented, pragmatic SPD “networkers”, Falko Mohrs, spoke of a “very far-reaching” decision with regard to the special fund. “However, the current state of the Bundeswehr does not meet the requirements that we need for national and alliance defense,” Mohrs told the Handelsblatt. Existing capability gaps therefore urgently need to be closed.
This is only possible with “a lot of money” that has not been made available in sufficient quantities in the past. “We owe our soldiers the best possible equipment,” emphasized Mohrs. “I therefore have great confidence in my colleagues for a unified voting result on Friday.”
Greens criticize the focus only on the Bundeswehr
The Greens parliamentary group will probably not vote unanimously for the special fund. MP Canan Bayram will vote no in any case, reports the editorial network Germany (RND), citing faction groups. Three or four more MPs could therefore be added.
>> Also read here: Interview with the military commissioner Eva Högl about arms deliveries to the Ukraine, equipment shortages in the Bundeswehr and the planned special fund
In the parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, there should have been an “intensive debate” of around two hours, according to participants. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was in charge of the negotiations, were also present.
The main criticism was that the special fund should only benefit the Bundeswehr and not cyber security or civil protection. Individual MPs also wanted to make their approval dependent on whether more money could be expected for development cooperation and climate protection in the future, reports the RND.
According to media reports, a large part of the so-called special fund for the Bundeswehr, amounting to 100 billion euros, is to be spent on the Air Force. This emerges from the draft for an economic plan, from which several news agencies quote.
The SPD defense politician Wolfgang Hellmich spoke of “urgently overdue purchases”. “With the special fund, we are in a position to better meet the increased tasks of national and alliance defense due to Putin’s war,” Hellmich told the Handelsblatt. At the same time, he emphasized that, as before, Parliament would decide on each procurement proposal individually.
Irrespective of this, according to Hellmich, the defense budget should continue to rise. “It is clear that for the security of Germany, the security of our citizens, the defense budget must increase steadily, especially when the fund with the special assets melts away,” he said.
More: Budget committee puts pressure on Lambrecht: Procurement reform must come “at high speed”.