After a fierce struggle, the Federal Cabinet wants to soon approve its draft budget for 2025. Development aid organizations are angry about planned cuts.
Aid organizations criticize the planned cuts in the development budget of the traffic light government and warn of a growing influence from Russia and China. “This draft sends the wrong signal to people in the global south who, despite all adversities, do not give up and want to change something for their families and communities,” said the President of Welthungerhilfe, Marlehn Thieme, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “In doing so, we are opening up greater opportunities for other states such as China or Russia to influence regions that should be important to us.”
It concerns the draft budget for 2025, which is to be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday. It will then go to the Bundestag, where it can still be changed and is to be passed shortly before the end of the year. The budget negotiations were extremely tough this year. The Foreign Office, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Development in particular had to accept cuts.
Stephan Exo-Kreischer, Europe director of the development organization One, accused the traffic light coalition of short-sighted and contradictory policies. “The federal government is practicing self-sabotage,” he said. “This budget means the dwarfing of Germany in terms of foreign and development policy.” Berlin’s budget plans played into the hands of Moscow and Beijing, whom it actually wanted to stand up to geopolitically. “Instead, we are cutting back on investments in partner countries in which Russia and China are becoming increasingly dominant.” The president of Bread for the World, Dagmar Pruin, called for parliamentary intervention. “It is the task of the Bundestag to prevent the planned cuts in the coming weeks and to set priorities correctly again.”
Criticism of the draft budget also came from the Union faction in parliament. The development policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU, Volkmar Klein, told the RND: “The turning point announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz must mean that we take responsibility in foreign policy and do not allow a vacuum to arise. The cuts in development cooperation are not the right way to go.” It is right that the Development Ministry is also making a contribution to budget consolidation, but the cuts go too far. “At the latest when more refugees come to Germany again due to reduced or lacking support in refugee camps and initial reception countries, it will become clear that too much has been cut in the development budget.”
Source: Stern
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