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Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during a visit to the troops
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IMAGO/David Inderlied / IMAGO/Kirchner Media
The traffic light government is facing difficult negotiations about financial planning for the coming years.
According to SPIEGEL information, the budget plans of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) are endangered by the spending requests of his cabinet colleagues for the next year.
According to a preliminary overview by his experts, the departments together are asking for more than 40 billion euros more than provided for in the financial plan for 2024.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) alone is demanding an additional 10 billion euros for the Bundeswehr.
His budget would thus increase to around 60 billion euros.
If he has his way, it should remain at this level in the years to come.
Without the increase, the modernization of the Bundeswehr promised by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would not be possible, his officials argued in initial budget talks with the finance department.
There are plenty of reasons for the additional demand in the Bundeswehr.
For example, the troops need more money to replenish their empty ammunition depots.
Hardly any money is provided for this in the special fund for the armed forces, which is equipped with 100 billion euros.
In addition, Pistorius' planners fear that wage increases in the public sector will reduce the scope for investments in the Bundeswehr's operational readiness.
Another argument is the requirements of NATO.
To date, Germany has not even come close to achieving the so-called two percent target of NATO.
In 2014, the partners had promised each other to spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on defense.
Germany is currently around 1.6 percent.
The only way to clear the 2 percent hurdle would be to significantly increase the annual budget.
However, it is far from clear whether Pistorius will actually receive such a significant premium for the individual plan 14.
The finance department is pushing for the funds from the special fund of 100 billion euros to be spent first.
Nevertheless, Lindner's people admit that they will probably have to grant the new head of the defense department a surcharge on his regular budget in the billions, so that he does not appear weak from the outset.
However, this should be much smaller than the required 10 billion euros.
The schedule for further talks is tight.
The departments are currently in confidential talks with the Ministry of Finance about the key figures of the federal budget for 2024, which will be decided by the cabinet in mid-March.
Lindner is planning 12.3 billion euros in new debt.
He will miss the target if he only fulfills a fraction of the wishes of his cabinet colleagues.
