Scholz accused of broken promises on army spending

Critics say Chancellor’s €100 billion pledge to boost Germany’s defences is not being met

THE German government is under fire for failing to act fast enough to bolster its army, with the Chancellor accused of “breaking promises” made to its soldiers nearly a year ago.

Three days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Olaf Scholz pledged €100 billion (£86 billion) in extra spending on the army as he declared the start of a “new era” in which Germany would do “everything it takes” to defend Nato’s borders.

Nine months later, however, critics complain that nothing has been spent.

“The defence ministry is still working like a German bureaucracy in times of deepest peace, but it needs to be put on a war footing,” Johann Wadephul, deputy head of the conservative CDU in the Bundestag, said. Munitions should have been bought “by the summer at the latest,” he claimed, adding that the German army was “at its limit” in terms of meeting its Nato obligations.

“Munitions could have been ordered a long time ago … but nothing has happened, that’s the problem,” he stated.

A scarcity of munitions is widely viewed as the most acute problem, with the required investment estimated at €20 billion. Nato forces are supposed to have enough munitions to last for 30 days of war, but German stores would reportedly only last for a few days. But there is also a shortage of more basic kit with soldiers saying that their Nato counterparts mock them for their outdated radio equipment.

On Wednesday, Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition CDU, accused Mr Scholz of “breaking a promise” to the country’s army that he would increase the military budget. According to Mr Wadephul, defence minister Christine Lambrecht shoulders the blame for the sluggish pace of the rebuild.

“Mr Scholz understands the importance of the moment, the person who isn’t doing her job is Ms Lambrecht,” he said, describing her as “completely overwhelmed” by the size of the task.

Ms Lambrecht countered that “you can’t order military equipment off the shelf like in a hardware store.”

She claimed last week that she was “finally acting … after years in which past governments ignored the armed forces,” a reference to the fact that the CDU ran the defence ministry before she took over last December.

An order for three dozen F35 fighter jets worth more than €7 billion from Lockheed Martin will be put to the Bundestag for approval next month, while purchases of dozens of transport helicopters and tanks are in the pipeline.

The military budget increased substantially after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but it has not been enough to get the army up to scratch.

Defence experts have warned that delays to orders will mean Germany is left at the back of the queue as arms firms try to keep up with a long list of requests from other Western countries.