BERLIN (Reuters) – German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is pushing for a 10 billion euro increase of the defence budget in 2024 to help refill depleted ammunition stocks, Spiegel magazine reported on Friday.
His ministry was concerned as the 100 billion euro special fund announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February did not include funds for munitions purchases. Expected salary increases after the next round of wage talks might further restrict the scope for investment.
A spokesperson for the defence ministry in Berlin referred to the finance ministry which is responsible for the budgeting process.
“We don’t comment on the ongoing talks. But it is clear that we need a constantly increasing defence budget to cover the needs of the military and to be able to react to conditions such as inflation and price increases,” the spokesperson said.
While Berlin has relied on the 100 billion euro fund to pay for new military equipment, the regular 2023 defence budget has actually declined by about 300 million euros.
At around 50 billion euros it remains well short of 75 billion euros, or 2% of economic output, Germany needs to meet its NATO obligations.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of reaching NATO’s target for ammunitions stockpiling, a defence source said.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Christina Fincher)
