As of: February 18, 2024, 11:40 p.m
By: Marcus Giebel
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It's better to do the math again: As Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius has an enormous amount of money at his disposal, but also a lot of construction sites to work through.
© imago
The Bundeswehr has a lot of ground to make up.
This could get expensive.
Two of Boris Pistorius' projects are apparently threatened with additional costs running into billions.
Bonn – A billion euros is always an immense sum.
Even if a hundred times as much is available thanks to a special fund.
As with the Bundeswehr, which was recently offered another three-digit billion sum.
Cost explosion at Pistorius' Bundeswehr: billions more for two projects?
Because Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD)'s troops have to make up for many of their past failures, they are taking action in Bonn.
And sometimes obviously calculated a bit too optimistically.
According to reports, spending on two projects will be significantly more expensive than expected.
Taken together, it's more than a billion euros.
On the one hand, there is the air base in Büchel in Rhineland-Palatinate, which is supposed to house the F35 stealth bombers ordered in the USA.
And on the other hand, the order for 123 Boxer armored transport vehicles.
Video: Boris Pistorius in Brussels - Germany breaks NATO's two percent mark
Air base for F35 jets: costs will probably increase by around double
Accommodation for the jets threatens to be twice as expensive as initially expected.
This is reported by
Wirtschaftswoche
, which has submitted the relevant government proposal to the budget committee.
This shows that the costs could rise to up to 1.2 billion euros if the infrastructure is to be ready by 2027.
This results in “an additional requirement of up to a total of 645,812,000 euros,” the newspaper quotes.
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The background is the staff overload in the responsible construction administration.
The tight schedule, which the federal government describes as “extraordinarily ambitious”, is also criticized.
The contract must be awarded by “March 6, 2024 at the latest if the tender is not to be risked again.”
Project for F35 jets will be significantly more expensive: “Bidders are willing to pay for the time pressure”
According to the traffic light coalition, in the event of a delay there would be a “threat to the security policy interests of the Federal Republic of Germany”.
The
Business Insider
quotes those involved in the project who express clear criticism: “Two bidders have submitted an offer as general contractors.
They let the time pressure pay for them.”
The interviewees added ironically: “What a surprise – we set the costs too low.
If we had done it differently and planned higher costs, there wouldn't be any trouble.” But perhaps a completely different plan.
Now it's called instead: caught up, hanging along.
It is still unclear how the additional costs will be absorbed within the special fund.
Wirtschaftswoche reports on a heated dispute between the Pistorius House and the finance ministry
of
FDP leader Christian Lindner.
The latter therefore calls for the funds to be cut elsewhere.
However, the Ministry of Defense refuses to give the red pencil to another project.
Soon on the way to Germany: The F35 jets purchased by the Bundeswehr need a home - and that will be expensive.
© imago
Pistorius and the Boxer project: New military vehicles are to be manufactured in Australia
But perhaps Pistorius has to get rid of another expensive project.
Keyword: boxer.
The Federal Audit Office is warning the Bundestag's budget officials not to give the green light to the purchase of the armored transport vehicle, reports Der
Spiegel
.
The magazine has the confidential report.
Two billion euros from the special fund were earmarked for the purchase of the so-called “heavy weapon carrier infantry”.
Now at least 2.69 million euros are expected – an additional 690,000 euros.
The financial controllers wrote: “Price escalation, contract options, expenses for initial ammunition requirements and driving school vehicles that still need to be procured are not taken into account.” It is also criticized that the purchase of the weapon system was handled by the Australian government and that most of the tanks were also down under should be manufactured.
Criticism of the purchase of Boxer vehicles: Financing was only secured after four and a half years
The Boxer project was initiated in 2017, when today's EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) was still in charge of the Bundeswehr.
“It took 4.5 years of the project before financing was secured in 2022,” complain the auditors and see “logistical disadvantages” due to the cooperation with Australia.
The warning seems to have arrived.
The Pistorius Ministry wanted to present the plan to the budget committee for a vote on Wednesday, but according to
Spiegel
information, the budget holders did not put the project on the agenda.
The Ministry of Defense, in turn, wanted to stick to the key points and stated in a response that “no product alternatives were available” and that the manufacturer Rheinmetall had “no national production capacities available”.
Nevertheless, it remains undisputed that Pistorius and thus the Bundeswehr, which he diligently transformed, juggles immensely high numbers and has been accused of wasting money several times.
Now it's about feared additional costs of more than 1.3 million euros for two projects.
And the end of the flagpole hasn't even been reached yet.
(mg)