Chancellor Olaf Scholz triggered a fierce debate by making new aid to Ukraine contingent on loosening spending restraints in Germany, according to Politico.
Scholz’s demand could delay the €3-billion aid package at a time when Ukraine was struggling to halt an offensive by Russian forces. German political leaders are also pushing for the package ahead of German national elections on 23 February.
The German leader plans to back the move only if it is covered by new loans.
I would still be in favour if everyone agreed to a resolution to finance this through loans.
Parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), support aid to Ukraine but oppose weakening the German constitutional “debt brake.” The mechanism limits the structural budget deficit to 0.35 per cent of gross domestic product, except in emergencies.
Scholz wants parliament to declare an emergency so that aid to Ukraine can be financed by additional loans. However, senior CDU parliamentarian Jürgen Hardt said the chancellor’s latest demand was “obviously being used as an excuse not to help Ukraine.”
The fact that the chancellor seriously claimed during the election campaign that otherwise money would have to be taken away from German pensioners can hardly be surpassed in terms of audacity.
FDP politicians also sharply criticised Scholz’s demand. Party leader Marco Buschmann said that the chancellor was blackmailing parliament.
[Scholz] now wants to blackmail the Bundestag for €3 billion by threatening that Ukraine will otherwise go away empty-handed.
Greens parliamentarian Sebastian Schäfer, who sits on the budget committee, said the chancellery “has been feverishly searching for a way that does NOT have a majority in the Bundestag.” The Greens also accused Scholz of simply wanting to block aid to Ukraine before the election.
Scholz boasts that Germany is the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. At the same time, many criticise him, as he allegedly does not know how to keep the war from spiralling out of control.
