Exhausted and relieved, the traffic light leaders present their agreement on the 2025 budget. But questions remain unanswered – especially with regard to the country’s defense capabilities.
After the coalition leaders agreed on the federal budget for 2025, there are widespread concerns about the financing of the Bundeswehr. Both the CDU/CSU and the SPD are calling for improvements. “This will not make us ready for war,” said Patrick Sensburg, president of the German Reservists’ Association, commenting on the only slight increase in the defense budget of 1.2 billion euros next year. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had announced an additional requirement of 6.5 to 7 billion euros. The financing of the Bundeswehr beyond 2025 also remains unclear.
According to the agreement reached by the leaders of the traffic light coalition, the defense budget is only to increase by around 1.2 billion euros from the current level of around 52 billion euros. “That is disappointing,” said the head of the Reservists’ Association, Sensburg, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “In fact, there will be gaps everywhere,” concluded the former CDU member of the Bundestag.
Improvements to defence budget demanded
SPD budget expert Andreas Schwarz spoke of a “sobering figure” in view of the small increase. “The result of the internal government budget talks does not correspond to what we need in the defense sector.” Now the members of the Bundestag have “the task of making significant improvements in the parliamentary process,” Schwarz told the “Tagesspiegel”. After the cabinet decision for the 2025 budget, which is scheduled for July 17, the Bundestag will deal with it for the first time in September. The decision in parliament is usually made in November/December.
The Union also believes that improvements to the defense budget are necessary. “What we need now is a quick, genuine re-prioritization in the budget that will enable a stable and increased defense budget,” CDU security expert Roderich Kiesewetter told the “Augsburger Allgemeine.”
After 2025, the Bundeswehr’s funding will become “increasingly tighter”
The long-term financing of the Bundeswehr beyond 2025 is also likely to lead to heated debates. Chancellor Scholz had spoken of a regular defense budget of 80 billion euros from 2028, i.e. after the special fund has been completely spent. Vice Chancellor Habeck made the dimension of the challenge clear in the ARD “Tagesthemen”.
“We’ll just about get through 2025. After that, it will get tighter and tighter,” said Habeck. Counter-financing after the expiration of the Bundeswehr’s 100 billion euro special fund has not yet been found. “It is significantly bigger than our problem of the last two or three days or last night,” stressed the Green politician. “I don’t want to see cuts in education, research, culture and social services because of the Federal Republic of Germany’s defense capability.”
Habeck: No further debates about budget emergency
Scholz, Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) reached an agreement on the 2025 federal budget on Friday night after weeks of wrangling. The debt brake will be complied with, and no budgetary emergency has been identified, for example due to spending on military and humanitarian support for Ukraine – this was important to the FDP. Habeck also advises against further discussions on the matter. “This debate has been had. I would not reopen it. I think this debate is over,” said the Green politician. The draft budget should now be stuck with. In general, Habeck spoke of a “very, very good package.”
Juso chairman Philipp Türmer sees things differently. “With many tricks, financial leeway is now being used that the finance minister had ruled out until recently,” Türmer told the portal web.de. Much of it is based on forecasts. If the global situation becomes more serious or if there is a crisis, the budget could quickly become unstable. “That is why suspending the debt brake is still the more sustainable option,” Türmer said. He even spoke out in favor of removing it from the constitution altogether.
DGB sees light and shadow
Trade unions and social associations reacted ambivalently to the budget compromise. DGB head Yasmin Fahimi saw it as “good news” that major cuts and social welfare cuts were apparently not being made. The trade unions considered the labor policy proposals to be the wrong signal overall. In order to mobilize skilled workers, clearer signals for more childcare and care would have been needed. The tax advantages for overtime and foreign skilled workers also have social flammable potential, the DGB head pointed out.
The chairwoman of the German Social Association (SoVD), Michaela Engelmeier, emphasized in the newspapers of the Funke media group that it seems to have been possible to “prevent further social decline in key areas.” In an interview with RND, however, she also complained that “the major distribution issues will no longer be resolved with this coalition because they cannot agree on the courageous tax reform required for this.”
Union keeps option of early elections on the table
Meanwhile, the Union sees no signal of stability in the traffic light compromise. “It may be that we have to come to Berlin at short notice,” said Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz to the “Rheinische Post”. “The traffic light coalition is not so stable that it will definitely last through the summer,” added the CDU leader. The Union could also adopt an election program at very short notice. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt emphasized in the same newspaper: “It remains to be seen whether this budget fragment will survive or is just the spark for the next exploding dispute in the traffic light coalition.”
Vice Chancellor Habeck pointed to the international environment as the reason for the traffic light leaders’ willingness to reach an agreement. “Sometimes it gets harsh and rough, and that’s what happened,” said the Economics Minister about the talks with Scholz and Lindner. The outside perspective helped. Habeck referred to the complicated formation of a government in France, the upcoming US presidential election and the war in Ukraine. “The world is not revolving around our small financial gap. We have to pull ourselves together here. We have to close it.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
