- Approved arms exports worth more than EUR 1 billion
In the first two quarters, arms exports worth around one billion euros were approved from Schleswig-Holstein and around 20 million euros from Hamburg for export abroad.
The total for the current year up to the end of July amounts to approximately 1.075 billion euros for Schleswig-Holstein and around 20.3 million euros for Hamburg, according to a response from the Federal Ministry of Economics to a request from Bundestag member Sevim Dağdelen (BSW), which was obtained by the German Press Agency.
In the city-state of Hamburg, only a small portion of this is for military weapons: the value is 120,000 euros. In the neighboring state of Schleswig-Holstein, the largest portion of approved exports, with a value of approximately 892.3 million euros, is for military weapons. The remainder is for other military goods.
Lower Saxony is at the top
Other federal states have much higher figures. For the neighboring state of Lower Saxony, a total value of around 3.1 billion euros is given, and for Baden-Württemberg around 2.0 billion euros. The neighboring northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on the other hand, has much lower export approvals, at around 1.1 million euros.
Criticism of the exports
In total, the federal government has already approved exports worth 7.9 billion euros in the first two quarters - of which 5.6 billion euros are for military weapons. Politician Sevim Dağdelen criticized: "Just before the state elections in Eastern Germany, the federal government is once again showing its fatal political priorities with record-high weapons exports." Instead of investing in education, infrastructure, and health, wars are being fueled worldwide and weapons are being given as gifts to Ukraine.
In the federal government, Green politician Robert Habeck is responsible for arms exports as Minister of Economics. The ministry states that the figures given are preliminary.
Lower Saxony surpasses both Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in arms exports, with a total value of approximately 3.1 billion euros approved for export during the same period. In contrast, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has significantly lower export approvals, at around 1.1 million euros.
