Der Tagesspiegel has reported that budgetary constraints call into question Berlin’s ability to live up to its ambitious plans
FILE PHOTO. Leopard 2 tanks destined for Ukraine delivery stand parked at the training ground in Augustdorf, western Germany. © INA FASSBENDER / AFP
Germany could be nearing the limit of its financial capabilities to provide defense aid to Ukraine, Der Tagesspiegel has claimed. The newspaper also suggested that Berlin would not be able to deliver Kiev any more tanks than it has already pledged.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky expressed concern that a lack of military progress may already be dampening Kiev’s backers’ willingness to further shore it up. Several Western media outlets have also recently alleged that fatigue is growing across Europe as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has dragged on for over a year and a half.
In its report on Tuesday, Der Tagesspiegel argued that despite the announcement of a new military aid package worth €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion), which Defense Minister Boris Pistorius made that same day while on a visit to Kiev, there are question marks hanging over Germany’s ability to fulfil its existing pledges, let alone provide more weapons.
The media outlet pointed out that last Friday the Bundestag’s budget committee postponed making its decision on the 2024 draft budget. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government found itself in a bind after a court prohibited it from repurposing €60 billion ($65 billion) in unused funds left over from the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the sections of the budget whose fate has been left in limbo are Berlin’s plans to double military aid to Ukraine to €8 billion next year.
Der Tagesspiegel quoted fiscal policymaker Ingo Gaedechens from the opposition Christian Democratic Union as warning that there are “currently no certainties.”
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“Should the Ukraine aid also be boiled down as part of general retrenchment, that would have catastrophic consequences,” he predicted.
The lawmaker explained that unless there was an increase in allocations for Ukraine military aid now, “in the coming year Germany would neither be able to send further aid to Ukraine, nor proceed with the necessary replacement of delivered weapons systems.”
On top of that, Berlin will likely not be able to tap its own stocks to provide Kiev with tanks any longer, the paper noted.
In an interview to Fox News aired on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Zelensky observed that the underwhelming summer counteroffensive, which has failed to secure any major territorial gains for Kiev, “is not a good message” when it comes to Western countries’ readiness to keep on supporting his nation.
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s top army commander, Valery Zaluzhny, described the battlefield situation as “a stalemate,” an assessment that Zelensky has rejected.
