German Development Minister Seeks Debt-Brake Exemption to Sustain Aid for Ukraine
Germany's development minister is seeking an exemption from the country's constitutional debt brake for Ukraine funding, Reuters reported on October 17. Reem Alabali Radovan made the case in an interview on Friday on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, arguing that much of Germany's civilian support for Ukraine comes from her ministry's budget and that continued cuts to development assistance would make that support impossible to maintain.
Funding for Ukraine in her ministry's budget amounts to about 330 million euros ($371 million) this year, down from 670 million euros in 2022 and 750 million euros in 2023, she said. Russian attacks are more severe than ever, she added, but with large parts of her budget already committed for the long term, the cuts fall hardest on flexible crisis instruments. Her proposal is backed by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of the conservative CDU, but faces opposition from other CDU members who resist further exceptions to the borrowing rules beyond those already approved, such as for defense spending.
Alabali Radovan, a Social Democrat in the junior partner of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's governing coalition, said she supports Merz's call for other countries to contribute more. "We are the strongest supporters, and I believe others can and should contribute more," she said. Germany is among Ukraine's largest European backers, and the funding question will feed into the coalition's coming budget negotiations. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
'The Russian attacks are more severe than ever, leading to more deaths, more destruction, more suffering. But as budget cuts for development assistance continue, we simply will not be able to maintain our support for Ukraine at this level,' she said.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：柏林德国国会大厦（资料照片）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Jürgen Matern 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0。Photo: The Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the German Bundestag (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, by Jürgen Matern, CC BY-SA 3.0.
