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Model of the planned Euro drone at the Paris Air Show 2019
Photo: Thierry Nectoux / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images
A new conflict is looming in the coalition over the procurement of unmanned drones for the Bundeswehr.
After the SPD prevented the purchase of weapons for the »Heron« drone, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is now criticizing the contracts negotiated by the Ministry of Defense for the so-called Euro drone.
It is to be developed by several EU nations.
With the unusual intervention, Scholz interferes again in the business area of Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU).
Scholz's maneuver is hidden in a confidential cover letter for a so-called 25 million euro bill from the defense department.
With the proposal, the Ministry of Defense asks the Budget Committee to approve the first tranche of development finance for the euro drone.
The approval of the budget should be the starting shot for the billion dollar drone project that Airbus is to develop together with the armaments company Dassault for Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
"Significant concerns remain about the procurement measure"
State Secretary for Finance Bettina Hagedorn in a letter to the Ministry of Defense
The finance department normally forwards such templates from other institutions to the budget committee after a formal review.
In the case of the euro drone, however, there are a number of points of criticism.
Scholz's State Secretary Bettina Hagedorn writes that "even after an exchange with the Ministry of Defense, there are still considerable concerns about the procurement measure."
However, the doubts do not relate to the drone, but to the contracts for the drone deal, which is expected to cost Germany around three billion euros.
The list of criticisms does not read well for the Department of Defense.
The officials from the Ministry of Finance criticize the "in comparison to other contracts unusually one-sided risk distribution at the expense of the client, which could lead to unpredictable additional costs in the future."
The sentence is explosive.
For years, the Bundeswehr has been trying hard to negotiate contracts for large weapon systems better than in the past and thus prevent breakdowns, price explosions and massive delays.
The second point of criticism is also weighty.
The State Secretary writes that annual budgets in the three-digit million range are planned for the major project for the period after 2025.
However, for these funds “no budgetary provision is recognizable”.
In plain language, this means that the financing of the project is not secured from today's perspective.
Such a sentence - of all things on the stationery of the finance department - should make the other project partners in Paris prick up their ears.
With the cover letter, Scholz symbolically shifts the entire risk of the project to the defense department.
The State Secretary emphasized several times that the negotiations, the awarding and the conclusion of the contracts were "solely the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Defense", this also applies to the "risk assessment" by the contracts and the subsequent operation.
Her house only presents the plans to the budget committee "despite the considerable reservations" so as not to jeopardize the multinational European project, "writes Hagedorn.
Drones are a hot topic for the SPD
For Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer, the process is very annoying.
It is true that she did not initiate the ambitious European drone idea herself.
However, she repeatedly mentions the project as proof that Germany and France can implement their own armaments projects and realize them technically.
The fact that the Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance criticized the Defense Minister's plans so harshly is much more than a minor coalition quarrel.
In addition, Kramp-Karrenbauer has not yet forgiven her SPD colleague for his actions in the discussion about arming the "Heron" drones.
In late autumn 2020, Scholz repeatedly delayed forwarding a corresponding budget proposal to the budget committee.
At the same time, the drone opponents formed in the SPD.
In the end, the parliamentary group completely rejected a decision on the armament and set up a commission to discuss ethical issues relating to drone warfare.
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Drone of the type »Heron« on a test flight (undated photo)
Photo: Maurizio Gambarini / Rheinmetall / dpa
In this legislative period there will be no more armament for the "Heron".
The Ministry of Defense is certain that Scholz deliberately did not forward the relevant submission in order to give the wing around SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, who strictly rejects the use of armed drones, more time to mobilize their own people.
Kramp-Karrenbauer's appeals that the finance minister should finally behave in a "fair" manner on the subject of armed drones did not yield anything either.
That is why Kramp-Karrenbauer did not want to take any chances with the prestige project Eurodrohne.
As a precaution, she made sure that the matter was discussed in the coalition committee.
The SPD gave them assurance that arming the Euro drone would not be decided until a later date.
The round with Chancellor Merkel and the party leaders agreed at the beginning of February that the contracts for the European project could be signed by the beginning of the second quarter of 2021 at the latest.
Greens criticize arms management
The Defense Minister could interpret the fact that Scholz is now shooting again as a declaration of war.
The Greens, however, used the process to criticize their management in large projects.
"Given that Ursula von der Leyen and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer have been trying to reform procurement since 2013, this template has extremely dangerous weak points," comments defense expert Tobias Lindner.
The strategic importance of the project should not be a license to waste tax money.
From the Union side, however, there is criticism of the coalition partner.
"For party political reasons, Finance Minister Scholz tries to distance himself as far as possible from a joint project of the federal government. That no longer has anything to do with fair cooperation," said the CSU defense politician Reinhard Brandl.
Statements like these show that there is hardly any common denominator between the Union and the SPD when it comes to security policy.
