German Finance Minister announces possible increase in defense spending

"Of course, strengthening our defense efforts over the next few years is something extremely important. <..."Parliament has a mandate for the rest of its term, and it's up to it to decide what potential agreements [on defense spending] will be," Kukis said in an interview. href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/german-finance-chief-sees-chance-for-defense-spending-splurge?srnd=homepage-europe " target="_blank">Bloomberg.

At the same time, the official warned that the size of the deficit in the yet-to-be-approved draft budget of Germany for 2025 now amounts to several billion euros.

Change of power: German elections won by the opposition CDU/CSU party

Friedrich Merz will be the new chancellor.

Earlier, on February 24, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called on the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, which won the parliamentary elections. href="https://iz.ru/1844793/2025-02-25/pistorius-prizval-khds-skoree-obespechit-finansirovanie-novykh-trat-na-oboronu " target="_blank">ensure the financing of new spending on the armed forces as soon as possible. He clarified that Germany has the opportunity to double the budget of his department in the coming years.

Parliamentary elections were held in Germany on February 23. CDU/CSU block won, gaining 28.5% of the votes. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in his congratulations to the union's leader Friedrich Merz, pointed out href="https://iz.ru/1843955/2025-02-24/rutte-v-pozdravlenii-mercu-ukazal-na-vaznost-rashodov-germanii-na-oboronu " target="_blank">the importance of increasing defense spending in Europe. He also clarified that he expects the opportunity to work with Merz at a "crucial moment" for the security of the continent.