German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/69,
p. 8092.
Frau President. Frau Defense Commissioner. Ladies and
gentlemen.
Nine months Zeitenwende
[change of times] Bundeswehr. Here, I want to open with a question: Where is
it, the Zeitenwende of Chancellor
Olaf Scholz? In the Defense Committee it so far has not arrived. The press in
any case seeks it. It has not arrived in the industry and our soldiers after
nine months have seen nothing of the Zeitenwende
in their barracks.
Marianne Schieder
(SPD): That is not right! Go there for once!
Scholz’s Zeitenwende,
there is none, and not after your just heard attempt at clarification, Frau Minister.
The truth is: For defense of our country, the Federal government has made 100
billion euros in debts, yet it has done nothing to expend the money for our
armed forces. What the Federal government is doing to the Bundeswehr is
sabotage, sabotage by incompetence.
Dear colleagues, what
could a willing and competent Federal government do with all of 100 billion
euros? Much of the damage which was inflicted on the
Bundeswehr in the last decades could thereby be repaired. This prospect of a
material change in the Bundeswehr is besides why a majority voted for the
special fund. Yet now it appears that 100 billion in debt money melts away like
snow in the sun, and the reasons are all homemade.
First. By means of galloping inflation, the purchasing power
of the special fund decreases in the coming five years to 69 billion. That
means 31 billion in purchasing power has been burnt.
Second. The increased interest rates for the borrowed money
in any case hits the special fund full in the account. In the six months of
this year alone, 308 million euros therein goes just for interest. For this
sum, the Defense Ministry could buy 20 new armored howitzers. Yet the Defense
Ministry buys no armored howitzers, exactly as few heavy transport helicopters,
Boxers for the medium forces, or the enormously important air defense.
Andreas Schwarz (SPD): Nevertheless, everything runs!
Instead, the Defense Ministry pays interest. With interest,
our soldiers cannot fight.
State Secretary Möller drew our attention in a friendly way
to the third point in the last committee meeting: The weakness of the euro.
Every arms purchase in the U.S.A., like the purchase of the F-35 or the heavy
transport helicopters, will obviously be figured in U.S. dollars. As a result
of the weak euro, there is ever less armament for the money in the U.S.A. Your
catastrophic financial policy not only weakens our prosperity but also our
defense readiness.
The fourth and last reason for the melting of the special
fund is the totally overcharged procurement system of the Bundeswehr. All of
the Defense Ministers of the last nine years attempted a reform, all have
failed. Frau Lambrecht herself has given up the attempt of a reform.
Andreas
Schwarz (SPD): Which nevertheless runs fine!
What the Federal government does with the special fund is a
money demolition. And the Bundeswehr in the future will not be defense ready.
Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is off track, for
every defense politician, regardless
of which party. I say to you what I would do in this situation. I would set
clear priorities and order weapons and munitions and indeed do it quickly. The
German defense industry can deliver. It only waits on orders. I would run the
risk of setting aside the procurement law, motivate the Armaments Office and
let the complaints come [Ich würde ins
Risiko gehen, mich über das Vergaberecht hinwegsetzen, dem Rüstungsamt Beine machen,
es auf Klagen ankommen lassen]. Authentic political leadership presupposes
the will to implement. It means having in view the welfare of the Bundeswehr
and of our Federal Republic and taking personal responsibility for decisions in
an emergency.
Thank you.
[trans: tem]
