Spiegel: Scholz blocca il nuovo pacchetto miliardario per l’Ucraina

According to SPIEGEL information, Foreign Minister Baerbock and Defense Minister Pistorius want to provide Ukraine with new billions in aid for weapons. Chancellor Scholz considers this unnecessary.

The German government is arguing about further German arms deliveries to Ukraine. According to SPIEGEL information, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) want to vote before the Bundestag election on 23. February mobilize an additional budget of around three billion euros for urgently needed further arms deliveries to Ukraine. But the chancellorship of Olaf Scholz is slowing down plans for additional military aid.

Behind the scenes, the project has been striflying for weeks. The ministries of Baerbock and Pistorius had already started to put together the new aid package for Ukraine after the traffic light in November 2024. The military experts in the Ukrainian staff of the defense department compiled a list of urgently needed weapons systems, including three additional Iris-T anti-aircraft batteries plus ammunition, additional Patriot guided missiles, ten wheel howitzers and other artillery ammunition.

The idea of the two houses was that the federal government would ask the Budget Committee of the Bundestag for a so-called over-scheduled expenditure from the 60th budget before the new election. In the past, the German government had already mobilized additional aid for Ukraine through this lever. From the point of view of Baerbock and Pistorius, the commitment would be an important signal to Ukraine that German weapons aid would not dry up.

Baerbock and Pistorius put pressure

In the justification for the application for the over-scheduled expenditure, the two ministries argue that the urgent needs of Ukraine were not foreseeable in the previous planning. According to this, the significant acceleration of the Russian advance and the loss of important defensive positions of Ukraine have significantly worsened Ukraine’s military situation in recent months. In addition, after Donald Trump’s election victory, it is unclear whether the USA will use Ukraine after his assumption of office on the 20th. January continue to support the military.

After the turn of the year, however, the plan stalled. The Chancellery informally signaled to the two houses that they did not support the idea for the additional billion budget.

According to SPIEGEL information, the Chancellery justifies its veto against the three-billion plan by saying that it does not want to put the future federal government in front of fait accomplis. In addition, Scholz’s house sees no urgent need for action. For this year, Ukraine would still have sufficient funds available from Germany, it is said. The preliminary budget for 2025 provides for around 4 billion euros for military aid; in addition, Ukraine can use another loan pot, the $50 billion loan provided by the G7 countries, which is financed by income from frozen Russian state assets.

Without the support of the Chancellery, the plan has no chance of being implemented. In SPD circles, it is speculated that Scholz may not want to announce any further arms deliveries for Ukraine in the middle of the Bundestag election campaign, because this could deter possible SPD voters. The Greens, on the other hand, are trying to score with the demand for higher arms spending.

Officially, the participating departments did not want to comment on the dispute over the new Ukraine aid. On the sidelines of the meeting of Ukraine supporters on Thursday in Ramstein, a spokesman for Pistorius said he could not comment on internal talks.

Skepticism in the Chancellery

After the breakup of the traffic light coalition, the SPD and the Greens no longer have their own majority. According to SPIEGEL information, the participating departments had already approached the Union faction in the Bundestag and had advertised support for the package, but not the former coalition partner FDP. The Union had reportedly not yet positioned itself on the plan.

On Thursday, the allies of Ukraine met at the US air base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate. The outgoing US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appealed to the Ukrainian supporting countries to continue to help the country attacked by Russia. “We can’t stop now,” Austin said. The Ukrainian delegation distributed among the assembled defense ministers an overview of armaments that the country urgently needs. The paper is available to SPIEGEL. At the top of the list are weapons for air defense.

Russia has severely damaged the Ukrainian energy infrastructure this winter, Ukrainian authorities report civilian victims almost daily. On Thursday, the pro-government Ukrainian military channel Deep State confirmed the capture of the strategically important small town of Kurachove in eastern Ukraine by Russian troops.

And how exactly killed Ukrainians wiil help him gain additional voters? WTF with him?