German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers a speech on the opening day of a massive electrolysis plant in Berlin, Germany on November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hils/File photo Obtaining licensing rights
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The ruling coalition led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has agreed in principle to double the country’s military aid to Ukraine next year to eight billion euros ($8.5 billion), a political source in Berlin said on Sunday.
The source added that if approved by Parliament, where Schulz’s parties have a majority, this increase would raise German defense spending to 2.1% of the targeted GDP, exceeding the 2% pledged by all NATO members.
Lawmakers from Schulz’s Social Democrats, Free Democrats and Green Party have agreed to step up negotiations on the proposed 2024 federal budget ahead of the official meeting of the Budget Committee of the Bundestag – or lower house of parliament – on Thursday 16 November. The source said.
Bloomberg News first reported the news on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
A German Defense Ministry spokesman said the Bundestag committee had not finished negotiations and declined to comment further.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, in an interview with ARD, referred to the plan to double military aid to Ukraine.
“It is a strong signal to Ukraine that we will not leave them in the lurch,” he said, adding that the move, if agreed, would mean that annual budget allocations would be sufficient to cover the entire year.
The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag also said that the committee is scheduled to approve the additional four billion euros.
The newspaper quoted Member of Parliament Andreas Schwarz, who works as an official in the military budget for the Social Democratic Party, as saying that “doubling military spending is the right and important thing to do.”
He was quoted as saying: “With this step we will confirm our promise to Ukraine to provide the necessary funds. The fact that we will also be able to fulfill our NATO obligations is a great success… for the alliance.”
A European Union plan to spend up to 20 billion euros ($21 billion) on military aid to Ukraine faces opposition from EU countries, diplomats said this week.
($1 = 0.9362 euros)
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Holger Hansen in Berlin; Writing by Vera Eckert in Frankfurt – Prepared by Mohammed for the Arabic Bulletin) Editing by David Gregorio, Kirsten Donovan and Giles Elgood
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