The federal government approved arms exports worth at least 11.71 billion euros this year, setting a new record. The previous high of 9.35 billion euros from 2021 was exceeded by 25 percent in mid-December, according to a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a request from Bundestag member Sevim Dagdelen from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. Compared to the previous year, the increase was 40 percent. More than a third of the approved exports, amounting to 4.15 billion euros, went to Ukraine for the defense against the Russian invaders.
The figures relate to the period from January 1st to December 12th, 2023, in which the traffic light approved the export of war weapons worth 6.15 billion euros and other military equipment worth 5.57 billion euros. Almost 90 percent come from EU and NATO states, Ukraine and states that are treated in the same or similar way as NATO states when it comes to arms export controls – for example Japan, Australia or South Korea.
The federal government released weapons and other armaments worth 1.76 billion euros from German production for other so-called third countries such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
In its coalition negotiations, at the urging of the SPD and the Greens, the traffic light government actually intended to curb arms exports and to introduce a control law for this purpose. Then came the U-turn in arms policy with the Ukraine war. The self-imposed ban on arms deliveries to an ongoing war was overturned by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in his “Turning of Times” speech on February 27, 2022 – a breach of a taboo.
In the first year of the war, arms deliveries worth 2.24 billion euros were approved for Ukraine, including anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery. This year, among other things, Leopard 2 main battle tanks were added, which the federal government made available after much hesitation. Export permits for Ukraine rose to 4.15 billion euros.
However, the high overall value is not solely due to this. Even without Ukraine, the federal government approved exports worth well over seven billion euros. For comparison: In the 16 years of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) government, the seven billion mark was only exceeded three times.
In the ranking of the most important recipient countries, Ukraine is followed by Norway (1.20 billion euros), Hungary (1.03 billion euros), Great Britain (654.9 million euros), the USA (545.4 million euros) and Poland (327th). .9 million euros) from five NATO states.
Israel is in seventh place with deliveries worth 323.2 million euros, around ten times as much as in the whole of 2022 with 32 million euros. According to previous information from the ministry, the majority of the more than 200 individual permits for Israel were issued after the Hamas terrorist attack on the country on October 7th. This particularly concerns components for air defense and communications equipment.
In addition to Israel, South Korea (256.4 million euros) is the only country in the top ten that is not a member of NATO. This year, arms deliveries to states from the Arab region were once again permitted on a much smaller scale, including the United Arab Emirates (78.2 million euros until November 30th), Egypt (40.3 million), Qatar (15.1 million) and Saudi Arabia (13.3 million). This emerges from another response from the ministry to a request from Dagdelen. Exports to these countries are controversial, especially because of the human rights situation there and the involvement in regional conflicts.
Foreign politician Dagdelen sharply criticized the arms export record. “Instead of approving piecework exports of arms to war and tension areas around the world and fueling the senseless war of attrition in Ukraine with ever new gifts of weapons that the population here has to pay for dearly, the traffic light should finally start making the necessary investments in infrastructure and education in Germany,” she demanded.
