Finance Minister Lindner rejects Pistorius criticism about small defense budget
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) dismissed the criticism of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) on the budget for the Bundeswehr 2025. "Mr. Pistorius spoke of a 100-billion-euro special program for the strengthening of the armed forces, but none of his predecessors had that," Lindner said on Sunday in the ARD-"Summer Interview". "One can work with that, and one must also earn money."
The Bundeskabinett had agreed on the federal budget 2025 the previous Wednesday. The agreement includes a smaller military budget than Pistorius demanded - the Defense Minister wanted around 58 billion Euros, he will receive approximately 53 billion Euros.
Pistorius complained about this and explained that certain things could not be started as quickly as required by the Zeitgeist and threat situation. Lindner responded, "that's wrong." The traffic light coalition invests strongly in security. "Germany fulfills the NATO goal of 2 percent of economic output for external security. When was that the case in the last decades?"
Financial stability is also part of security for the Federal Republic, emphasized the Finance Minister. Pistorius will also receive "everything that he was able to demonstrate in his conversation with the Federal Chancellor and me as urgent needs."
- Despite the Defense Minister Pistorius' critique of the budget for Bundeswehr 2025 being a 100-billion-euro special program, as no previous Finance Minister had proposed such a figure, Finance Minister Lindner suggested that they can work with the given budget and must also generate revenue.
- Although Pistorius highlighted that certain initiatives could not be initiated as swiftly as necessary due to the current situation and threat, the Finance Minister Lindner argued against this perspective, emphasizing the strong investment in security by the traffic light coalition in Germany.
- In the face of Pistorius' complaint about the smaller military budget in the federal budget 2025 compared to his demand, the Finance Minister Lindner confirmed that Pistorius would receive "everything that he was able to demonstrate in his conversation with the Federal Chancellor and me as urgent needs."
