Reuters: Germany to provide promised aid to Ukraine in 2025 despite coalition collapse

8 November, 2024 Leopard 2A4 tank of the 33rd Mechanized Brigade.

2023. Ukraine. Photo from the Facebook page of the Brigade

Germany will be able to provide most of the EUR4 billion promised to Ukraine for military support, even if the 2025 budget is not approved in time after the collapse of the coalition government. Reuters reported on this, citing sources in the parliament's budget committee. According to the publication's interlocutors, these funds are mostly earmarks and can therefore be allocated within the framework of the interim budget management, even if the budget itself is not adopted.

The IRIS-T SLM launcher based on a MAN truck.

Photo from the network

The draft German budget was agreed in the summer and was supposed to be approved by the parliament by the end of the year, but after the collapse of the coalition government, this may be postponed until mid-2025.

Promised funds

On October 11, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would provide Ukraine with direct military aid worth EUR4 billion next year during a joint media statement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Berlin. "We will also continue our military assistance for Ukraine next year, and the budget already provides for 4 billion euros in direct bilateral aid," he said. He pointed out that Germany provided Ukraine with the largest military support of any European country and would continue to do so.

Previously, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy stated that stopping military aid to Ukraine would cost the German economy "much more than continuing it."

Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 self-propelled howitzers. Photo from open sources

According to their analysis, contrary to populist statements, the total amount of German military aid to Ukraine from 2022 is small from a macroeconomic point of view, amounting to EUR10.6 billion. This corresponds to an average of about EUR4 billion per year, or about 0.1% of Germany's gross domestic product (GDP).

If bilateral humanitarian aid is taken into account, this amount will increase to 0.14% of GDP.