German deputies adopted, on Friday, by a very large majority, an endowment of 100 billion euros for the army. A political victory for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who obtained the support of the conservative opposition.
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A sacred union fragrance. Friday, June 3, German deputies approved by a very large majority (593 for, 80 against, 7 abstentions) the creation of a “special fund” of 100 billion euros intended to modernize the Bundeswehr. For Olaf Scholz, who launched the idea on February 27, three days after the start of the war in Ukraine, this green light constitutes a brilliant political victory: Friday, this exceptional endowment was voted not only by the parties of its coalition – Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberals (FDP)- but also by the Conservative Group (CDU-CSU), main opposition force in the Bundestag.
After negotiated, the support of the CDU-CSU was essential for a specific reason: in his speech of February 27, Mr. Scholz had wanted this special fund to be “guaranteed in the fundamental law”, that is to say -Dit that it is the subject of a constitutional revision. However, this requiring a majority of two thirds, its adoption supposed that an agreement is sealed with the conservatives. In exchange for their voices, the latter obtained that the 100 billion euros were entirely allocated to the Bundeswehr, where certain elected officials of the majority – in particular environmentalists – would have liked that part of the envelope serves to finance d ‘Other non -strictly military components of security policy, such as the fight against cybercrime, civil protection and assistance in the “stabilization” of foreign countries.
Concretely, it is the Air Force (Luftwaffe) which will benefit from most of the cake: 33.4 billion euros, a third of the special fund. This sum will be used in particular to pay the 35 F-35 combat planes that the German government has decided to buy the American manufacturer Lockheed Martin to replace its old Tornado, used since the 1970s. The only approved plane to transport American nuclear bombs, The F-35 will allow Germany to continue to participate in “nuclear sharing”, in other words the NATO deterrence program.
To strengthen the “air component” of his army, Berlin also intends to acquire Eurofighter ECR fighter planes, manufactured by the European Airbus consortium, Chinook CH-47-F transport helicopters, produced by the American Boeing, as well as HERS TP drones, of Israeli manufacturing. “The development of the Future Air Force System (SCAF) must also be funded by the Special Fund from 2023,” said German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht on Friday in reference to the German-Seat project Franco-Spanish supposed to succeed in 2040.
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