The German Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection has published its report on the approval of arms and military equipment sales last year. According to the report, the German government approved the sale of approximately 12.2 billion euros worth of arms and military equipment abroad last year.
Thus, Germany’s sales of arms and military equipment in 2023 broke a record.
The Berlin administration’s previous annual record for arms and military equipment sales was 9.35 billion euros in 2021. It was noteworthy that the new record was 30 percent higher than the old one.
According to the ministry’s report, Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, was the largest recipient of military equipment sales last year. Berlin authorized the sale of 4.44 billion euros worth of arms and equipment to Kiev.
German government export licenses to Ukraine include Leopard 2 tanks, Patriot air defense systems, Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, PzH howitzers, stinger missiles, grenades, helmets and vehicles.
Last year, the government approved the sale of 10.84 billion euros worth of arms and military equipment, 89 percent of it to European Union (EU) and NATO countries.
Switzerland, Singapore, Ukraine, Ukraine, Japan, Australia, Australia and South Korea receive the same or similar treatment as NATO countries when it comes to arms export controls in Germany.
German arms and military equipment sales to Israel increased 10-fold last year to 326 million euros. In the first few weeks after the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the federal government approved 185 applications from Israel.
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Arms exports a matter of debate
It was noteworthy that the government, which came to power in 2021 with the promise of restricting arms exports, signed the largest export figures in the country’s history. Last year, the government approved the export of over 7.5 billion euros worth of arms and military equipment outside Ukraine.
In 2021, the last year of Angela Merkel’s term in office, a record was broken for the first time since the Second World War with arms sales of 9.4 billion euros. This record is now in the hands of the Olaf Scholz government. This table was recorded as another example of the dilemma of the German government.
During the coalition negotiations in Germany, the German government, pushed by the Greens and the Social Democratic Party, aimed to reduce arms exports and enact a control law.
The government set out with the goal of being restrictive in granting permits for arms exports, but after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it moved away from this goal and became the second largest arms exporter to Ukraine.
The Scholz government has prepared a draft for an “Arms Export Control Act” for the fall of 2022. The draft states that in the future, more weight will be given to the observance of human rights, the rule of law and democracy when deciding on arms exports.
With Ukraine at the center of German foreign policy, issues that were considered objectionable in the past are now viewed differently.
The Russian-Ukrainian war pushed Germany into a historic transformation of its military approach, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declaring after the outbreak of the war that Germany would comply with “NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense”.
Describing Russia’s war against Ukraine as a “turning point”, Scholz announced additional funds of 100 billion euros to adequately equip the Bundeswehr with modern weapons.
