The German parliament has approved a €100bn ($107.2bn) military fund to modernize the country’s armed forces amid Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine.
Deputies of the Bundestag lower house approved the measure on Friday after Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed the necessity for the creation of the fund, which is supposed to top up the regular military budget of around 50 billion euros over several years to help re-build the German military.
Scholz hailed it as “a huge step” for the security of his country and Europe amid the raging war in Ukraine, which has already taken a heavy toll on the European economy and left Germany grappling with record inflation.
The German government went as far as amending the constitution to create the fund in order to exempt it from Germany’s so-called debt brake that enforces fiscal restraint.
The approval required backing from the opposition as well as the ruling coalition in order to reach the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed for a constitutional change.
The move faced strong opposition from Russia earlier on Friday, with the Kremlin accusing Germany of “remilitarization” as it moved to boost military budget, and saying Berlin would increase security risks.
“We take that as another confirmation that Berlin is on the path to a new re-militarisation,” said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The Bundestag also passed on Friday a budget foreseeing 139 billion euros of new debt this year — Germany’s second-highest-ever level — to cushion Europe’s biggest economy against fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
The budget required parliament to allow an exemption from Germany’s debt brake for a third year in a row, with the new debt to go towards funding aid for households and companies struggling with high energy prices as a result of the Russian military campaign.
According to data recently released by Eurostat, prices in the eurozone touched another record high in May, challenging the European Central Bank’s view that gradual interest rate increases from July will be enough to stem the soaring inflation.
Eurostat said in the 19 countries sharing the euro, inflation surged to 8.1 percent last month, up from 7.4 percent in April, beating expectations for 7.7 percent amid steep price rises.
Prices have seen a sharp surge across Europe over the past year, initially triggered by supply chain problems in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and later the war in Ukraine.
German came in at an annual 8.7 percent in May, with preliminary figures exceeding expectations of 8 percent. French inflation also beat expectations to record 5.8 percent, up from 5.4 percent in April, while Spanish consumer prices jumped by an annual 8.5 percent, beyond the expected number of 8.1 percent.
Across the eurozone, the record annual consumer price increase was driven by soaring energy costs, which hit 39.2 percent, and a 7.5 percent hike in prices of food and other commodities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the military campaign against Ukraine in February, accusing Kiev of failing to implement the terms of a peace agreement for the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
At the time, Putin said one of the goals of what he called the “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
Ever since, the United States and its Western allies have been sending heavy weaponry to Ukraine and sharing intelligence with the government in Kiev, while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western support would indefinitely prolong the war in Ukraine.
Source: Agencies (editted by Al-Manar English Website)
