The German government does not intend to provide new financial assistance to Ukraine in the near future.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the current budget planning of the coalition government does not include money for new payments to Kyiv. The budget draft is expected to be supplemented, but additional requests from the German Ministry of Defense will not be approved in accordance with Olaf Scholz’s decision, writes FAZ.
This year, Germany is to provide around €8 billion in support of Ukraine. The planned maximum limit for next year is only €4 billion – and it has probably already been exhausted.
In early August, the Prime Minister of the German state of Saxony and representative of the CDU, Michael Kretschmer, called for a reduction in military aid to Ukraine, which drew harsh criticism, in particular from fellow party members.
Deputy leader of the CDU parliamentary group Johann Wadephul said that Germany has an obligation to support “the country it itself invaded during the Second World War.”
The head of the Bundestag’s defence committee, Markus Faber, said he was “disgusted that the prime minister is using the Ukrainians’ struggle for survival for his regional election campaign.”
Ukrainians are fighting not because they want war, but because they do not want to live in one big Bucha, in which the Russian army indiscriminately kills, tortures and rapes, Faber emphasized.
Kretschmer believes that disputes over Germany’s federal budget can be resolved by cutting aid to Ukraine. Elections will be held in the state of Saxony, which the politician leads, on September 1.
East German-born Kretschmer advocates renewed cooperation with Russia, in particular repairs to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Source: Racurs
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