BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The German government wants to close the gaps in the Bundeswehr caused by arms deliveries to Ukraine as quickly as possible. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced on Wednesday evening that talks with the arms industry would take place, possibly as early as next week. At the same time, the SPD and the CDU/CSU are calling for better coordination of defense production in Europe.
On Wednesday, the German government announced the delivery of Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, and other countries now also want to supply such tanks from German production. Previous German deliveries include the Patriot air defense system, Gepard tanks for air defense and the Iris-T air defense system. Pistorius last week announced deliveries of weapons and equipment to Ukraine worth one billion euros in the spring. That would bring the total amount of German military aid since the start of the war to 3.3 billion euros.
Pistorius said Wednesday evening on ARD's "Tagesthemen" that the gaps caused by giving weapons to Ukraine come on top of replacement deficits that have been "neatly piled up" in recent years. "We are now doing everything we can to ensure that replenishments are made quickly," the minister stressed. He said he wants to hold talks with the defense industry on this very soon, probably as early as next week. Pistorius added: "We need more defense industry in Germany, but, I think, also in a concerted way in Europe."
SPD defense expert Wolfgang Hellmich encouraged Pistorius in his approach. "We have to sit down very quickly with the defense industry to go into production on the replacement for the Leopard tanks," the defense policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND/Thursday). "We have to come together there through start-up financing and long-term acceptance guarantees, because the security of our country requires it."
The defense policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Florian Hahn, called it "fundamentally important for Germany's defense capability to immediately procure Leopard tanks, ammunition and everything else that the Bundeswehr had to give up." Writing in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper (Thursday), the CSU politician called for a long-term support strategy that manufacturers could also adapt to.
In this context, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized former defense ministers of the Union for mistakes. "In many cases, productions have to be re-established," the SPD politician said on Wednesday evening in the ZDF program "Was nun, Herr Scholz." For example, he said, there are not enough spare parts or ammunition for many weapons. There is no constant production in interaction with the industry, he said. "Something like this should not happen to us in the future". Now, he said, the Bundeswehr must be equipped in the next few years so that it is capable of national defense.
The chairman of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, called for a realignment of European arms production. "European states are currently unable to provide the necessary armaments quickly enough, either for our own defense or for Ukraine," the CSU vice chairman complained in the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers (Thursday). What is needed, he said, is "a kind of war economy in the EU in order to be able to guarantee stability and security." Weber called on the EU Commission to "develop common standards for the production and export of weapons and ammunition."/shy/DP/zb
