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Agency Report –
Bielefeld, Germany – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday he opposes any increase in arms deliveries to Ukraine if they would require cuts elsewhere in the budget.
“I’m against us taking this from pensions, I’m against us doing this through cuts to local governments, I’m against us investing less money in railroads and roads,” the centre-left Social Democrat said in the central city of Bielefeld during a campaign event. “So you have to finance that extra.”
However, Scholz contended that there remains no majority in parliament to support suspending Germany’s strict limits on government borrowing, known as the debt brake, in order to fund aid for Ukraine and other policies.
Scholz’s own three-party coalition government collapsed after months of bitter negotiations failed to reach a deal on a budget for 2025. Early elections are scheduled for February 23.
The news magazine Spiegel reported last week that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius have pushed to send around €3 billion ($3 billion) in arms to Ukraine ahead of the election – but have been blocked by Scholz.
“If you do that, you also have to say where the money is coming from,” Scholz said on Monday.
Scholz accused of holding up further German arms aid for Ukraine
In addition, a senior German lawmaker from the Greens on Monday blamed Chancellor Scholz for blocking a further military aid package for Ukraine, despite the ongoing bloody fight against the Russian invasion.
Anton Hofreiter, the chairman of German parliament’s EU Committee, said that Scholz’s Chancellery appears to be blocking a major package being pushed for by some ministers.
“It has not been forwarded to the Finance Ministry, it has not reached the Budget Committee,” Hofreiter told Deutschlandfunk public radio. “And all our internal information is that the chancellor is blocking it.”
The news magazine Spiegel had reported last week that both Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius have pushed to mobilize another roughly €3 billion in weapons for Ukraine before upcoming German elections on February 23.
However, Scholz’s Chancellery is putting the brakes on any additional military aid, according to Spiegel, reportedly because Scholz does not want to tie the hands of the next German government.
Pistorius and Scholz are both members of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), while Baerbock and Hofreiter are members of the Greens.
Pistorius on Sunday denied that Scholz was blocking aid in an interview with the Tagesspiegel newspaper: “There is no blockade. We have prepared a new aid package for Ukraine in the Defence Ministry. This must now be decided politically – as soon as all questions have been clarified, I expect a corresponding decision.”
The Greens have sought to distance themselves from Scholz’s cautious policy toward Ukraine in the campaign ahead of early nationwide elections.
Baerbock, for instance, has warned against a significant reduction in Germany’s financial support for arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Hofreiter said on Monday that he does not accept Scholz’s argument that he did not want to finance Ukraine aid through cuts to social programmes, citing a lack of funds in the draft budget.
The €3 billion at issue could be paid for without cuts to social welfare spending, Hofreiter said. “And that is why this is simply a false argument by the chancellor and a clumsy excuse to divert attention from it.”
Hofreiter said he believes it is realistic and possible to pass the aid package before the general election.
Despite their coalition agreement, the Greens and Scholz’s SPD have long held conflicting positions on Ukraine, including over Scholz’s refusal to supply Kiev with long-range Taurus cruise missiles.
Hofreiter in particular has been vociferously calling for more arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, including Taurus missiles.
