German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated his call for reforms to Germany's strict government debt rules on Wednesday, warning that the rules could prevent needed investments in the country's defence.
Pistorius argued that Germany's so-called debt brake, which was created more than 15 years ago in the wake of the financial crisis, does not reflect the challenges now facing the country.
Germany's government had to take on huge new debts to weather the coronavirus pandemic, provide needed aid to Ukraine and invest in modernizing the country's long-neglected military, Pistorius said on Wednesday at an economic and budget forum hosted by the opposition centre-right CDU/CSU bloc.
Trying to apply the old debt rules to that situation "would be like trying to fly to the moon in a steam locomotive," Pistorius said. "Sorry, that's not possible."
He called for spending on defence, emergency preparedness and some other limited areas to be excluded from the debt brake rules, arguing that tidy finances would be of little help to a country that can't protect itself.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP) has rejected that idea.
Pistorius said he's pushing for a moderate increase in military funding in ongoing 2025 budget negotiations: "Whether I get that remains to be seen. I don't know what I could make up for what I don't get."
