Shortly before the handover on December 8th, the GroKO approved the sale of three warships and 16 air defense systems. Overall, exports will rise to 4.91 billion euros.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The former federal government of the Union and the SPD approved arms exports worth almost five billion euros in the last nine days of their term in office. This increases the total volume of export permits in the current year to a record value of 9.04 billion euros.
The new Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock (Greens) is therefore urging stricter rules for such exports. “As a coalition, we have made it clear that we are reviewing the arms export policy of the past few years,” she said. “That is why we are working on an arms export control law that makes it clearer which criteria are used to approve arms exports.”
Number one among the recipient countries is by far Egypt, which has been criticized for human rights violations and its involvement in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her then Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) approved the sale of three warships and 16 air defense systems to the North African country shortly before the handover on December 8th.
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This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a request from the left-wing member of the Bundestag Sevim Dagdelen, which is available to the German Press Agency. Number one among the recipient countries is by far Egypt, which has been criticized for human rights violations and its involvement in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
Permission contrary to custom
A few days ago it became known that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her then Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had approved the sale of three warships and 16 air defense systems shortly before the handover on December 8th.
Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) only informed the Bundestag one day before the election of Olaf Scholz as Chancellor – but without mentioning the value of the exports. The answer from the Ministry of Economic Affairs now shows that until the change of government, war weapons and other armaments worth 4.34 billion euros had been approved for Egypt. According to an earlier response from the ministry to a parliamentary question, it was only 0.18 billion euros as of November 29. This means that for Egypt alone, the Merkel government has approved arms exports worth more than four billion euros in the last nine days. Overall, the Merkel / Scholz government allowed exports amounting to 4.91 billion euros in the last nine days – more than in the almost nine months before combined.
What is explosive is that the government was only executive in office during this period. It is common practice for a government to stop making far-reaching political decisions at this stage.
The left-wing foreign politician Dagdelen sharply criticized the behavior of today’s Chancellor Scholz. “Olaf Scholz has done a real crook in the executive government and has impressively demonstrated how unscrupulous the SPD’s criticism of unscrupulous arms exports, especially of dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, ultimately remains,” she told dpa. “For the new traffic light government under Scholz this is a heavy burden.”
The CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter has defended the approval of arms exports in the billions. “The acting of the executive federal government took place within the valid legal framework. That is why the critical voices of the Greens and the left are nothing more than crocodile tears, ”said the Bundestag member of the German Press Agency.
Traffic light wants to revise export policy
The new coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP now wants to curb arms exports to such so-called third countries outside of the EU and NATO. In order to enable more effective control, a law is to be introduced. So far there are only political guidelines for the approval of arms exports.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs under the Greens Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck is currently responsible for the issue. For years, however, there has been a debate as to whether the subject might not be better dealt with in the Foreign Ministry. Baerbock did not take a clear position on this question. However, she pointed out that arms exports cannot be viewed in purely economic terms. “It is also a question of foreign policy, of human rights, of international relations.”
Baerbock also wants to advocate joint arms export control at European level. But that was “a thick board,” she admitted. Countries like France are nowhere near as strict as Germany when it comes to approving arms exports.
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