Kramp-Karrenbauer: Bundeswehr should no longer be the "laughingstock of Germany"

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) has campaigned for a reform of the procurement system of the Bundeswehr. She was "sorry that they are all becoming the subject of the mockery of Germany every day," said the defense minister to the employees of the Procurement Office in Koblenz. In public, the impression has spread: "In the Bundeswehr nothing flies, nothing drives, nothing goes to sea."

In doing so, the minister referred to the fact that in recent years there have been repeated cases of drastic cost increases and delays in central armaments projects of the armed forces. To the problems of the Federal Armed Forces belonged last also breakdowns on government aircraft. In addition, the soldiers have to wait for new boots because of material shortages. An expert commission has therefore presented to the Ministry reform proposals, which Kramp-Karrenbauer now presented at a non-public employee meeting.

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The aim of the envisaged reform was "that we get the material faster, easier and more targeted the material to our women and men," said Kramp-Karrenbauer, according to a note in her speech, which is the AFP news agency. "There are also things that have not worked out well for a long time, but they have been arranged with or accustomed to."

Defense Minister wants "no major reform"

When remedying these abuses, however, she prefers "no major reform" of the Procurement Office, but rather "many small steps": the changes should be addressed so "that the current operation is not affected if possible," said Kramp-Karrenbauer. The minister suggested giving more powers to the Procurement Agency. "I am firmly convinced that the authority must have the same organizational sovereignty as a command authority," she said.

The Greens called on the minister to a "different culture of error" in the procurement of the Bundeswehr. In the course of the announced reorganization must be renounced "political prestige projects", "which are always beautifully reckoned," said the defense expert of the Greens parliamentary group, Agnieszka Brugger, in the ARD.

Brugger called for a fundamental reorientation. So far, for example, "constituency wishes of members of the Union" or "the wishes of the defense industry" in procurement often exceed what "the Bundeswehr really needs as a matter of priority".