Battle for every euro pre-programmed

Now it's here, the coalition agreement - and perhaps by the time this issue is published there will be a prospect and a date for the election of the chancellor and the formation of a coalition.

The coalition agreement refers to the dynamically developing security policy situation, which is characterised by the fact that war is no longer just threatened, but actually waged. However, apart from the mention of Russia, a cloak of silence has been drawn over the very hot global threat. The key aspects of the situation are recognised: "For the first time since the end of the Second World War, Germany and Europe must be in a position to guarantee their own security to a much greater extent. We will create all the necessary conditions so that the Bundeswehr can fulfil the task of national and alliance defence without restriction." The "commitment to NATO and the EU remains unshakeable. The transatlantic alliance and close cooperation with the USA remain ... of central importance." The recipe for self-protection and alliance partner protection is tried and tested, but currently seems like whistling in the woods: "We want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don't have to defend ourselves." Convincing deterrence against a historical revisionist expansionist, who probably doesn't care about a million dead soldiers from the empire's colonies, would require an enormous increase in capabilities in a very short time, even for politicians who measure time in legislative periods.

It therefore states: "Spending on our defence must increase significantly ... by the end of the legislative period." However, any funding in Section 14 will have to be negotiated year by year, as in the past. The familiar top-down procedure has been agreed, i.e. the specification of key figures through cabinet decisions as part of the budget preparation process. And as always: "All measures in the coalition agreement are subject to funding." In the exploratory talks, the CDU/CSU had argued in favour of financing the armed forces and armaments to the tune of 3.5% of GDP from tax revenues. The coalition agreement now states 1% - everything else is generously exempted from the debt brake. A new "Bundeswehr Planning Act" is intended to secure the planning framework "for adequate equipment of the Bundeswehr" beyond the short term. It should be noted that in the exploratory papers, in contrast to other topics more in tune with the zeitgeist, the Bundeswehr was not linked to specific sums to be financed by debt.

It recognises obstacles to implementation in procurement and wants to reform the planning and procurement system and align arms exports more closely with foreign, economic and security policy interests. The aim is greater reliability for the German defence industry, its (foreign) partners and customers.

One ray of hope for the future technical equipment of the armed forces is the "funding framework for security and defence research, including cyber security and secure infrastructures, in order to enable more targeted cooperation between universities and non-university research with the armed forces and companies." The aim is to "increasingly promote future technologies for the Bundeswehr" and even introduce them into the armed forces. "This applies in particular to the following areas: satellite systems, artificial intelligence, unmanned (including combat-capable) systems, electronic warfare, cyber, software-defined defence and cloud applications as well as hypersonic systems."

However, armour without soldiers is ultimately just inventory for the armoury in Cloud Cuckoo Land. The solution: "We are creating a new, attractive military service that is initially based on voluntary service. The new organisation of this service will be based on the criteria of attractiveness, meaningfulness and contribution to the ability to grow." Where to put more soldiers and equipment? More military infrastructure is needed quickly. A "Bundeswehr Infrastructure Acceleration Act" is intended to simplify many things, including through "exemptions in construction, environmental and public procurement law". If you look carefully in the treaty, you will also find a reference to the fact that the SArbZeitV is to be adapted, a glimmer of hope for a better organisation of life and service at the base for the naval branch of the armed forces and its soldiers.

Michael Stehr