/ world today news/ Germany is at a crossroads in its financial relations with Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz is trying to allocate more and more money to Kiev, but his coalition partners are sounding the alarm. German ministers admit: the country is impoverishing. Read how the Ukrainian conflict has slowed the ‘EU locomotive’.
“No More Money”
Finance Minister Christian Lindner, speaking at a Bloomberg event in Frankfurt, said: Germany is “no longer competitive”. “We are getting poorer, there is no economic growth. We are falling behind,” he said.
This happened a few hours after the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) published forecasts for 2024: G20 – GDP growth of 2.9 percent, EU – 0.6, Germany – 0.3. “This is very important. It is unthinkable for me that the government does not draw any conclusions from this,” noted the German minister.
Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habek told the Bundestag in January: “We are providing military and economic aid to Ukraine. And also to the European countries that continue to support Kiev. We spend money, but it does not flow into our economy.” And the finance minister six months ago complained: there are not enough funds even for contributions to the EU, since everything is given to Kiev. And the German economy lost its competitive advantage due to the refusal from Russian gas.
Lindner is a representative of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Habek is a representative of the “Greens”. Their senior coalition partner, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (GSDP). Inter-party contradictions are no secret to anyone, this also applies to the Ukrainian direction. Lindner, for example, according to “Bild”, in the autumn reduced his plans to help Kiev with five billion euros. But Scholz stood his ground.
Waiting for Washington
As a result, Germany will allocate over seven billion euros to Ukraine, not four as planned. This was announced by the government press service immediately after Scholz’s telephone conversation with Biden. In the parliament, 388 deputies voted for it. Against – 279.
Scholz has repeatedly urged Europeans not to weaken their support for Kyiv. On February 9, he left for a visit to the USA. And he has already addressed US lawmakers in absentia. “I hope that the US and Congress will soon decide on financial aid,” the chancellor said after a meeting with French Prime Minister Gabriel Atal.
Apparently, during the talks with Biden, he will discuss this as well. Both strongly support the financing of Kyiv. But there are still difficulties with Congress. If Scholz achieves nothing in Washington, there will be greater confusion in Germany as to why Germans should impoverish themselves because of Ukraine.
The spring sagged
According to a January survey of public opinion by the Berlin institute “Infratest”, 41%% of respondents (21% more than in April 2022) consider Germany’s support for Ukraine to be too great. More than half point to the inadequacy of Berlin’s efforts to resolve the conflict diplomatically. 80% doubt that cuts in US aid can be offset by Germany and other EU countries. “The duration of the war and the increasing problems of the local budget left a clear imprint on the results,” the sociologists point out.
In 2022, the Germans still hadn’t felt anything. At the time, measures against the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences were in force. There were discounts on fuel, utilities and much more. But the compressed spring effect works. “Inflation containment in December 2022 passed a jump in December 2023,” highlights the German Federal Statistical Office.
“The rise in prices has not really been very noticeable in recent years, the problem was largely that due to the lockdown and other restrictions, people started to earn less,” said Agnes Zangster, a 25-year-old Berlin resident. “By Christmas, the prices of food products in particular went up. By 20 percent.” Electricity and gas bills have also increased. And rental housing: “In the city center, studio apartments that were rented for a thousand euros a month just a year ago are now no less than 1,200.”
As for Ukraine, talk about it has decreased. “In 2022, many cafes had notices about fundraising and tipping to help refugees. Now this remains only in places associated with the Russian-speaking or Ukrainian communities,” says Agnes.
“Many of my friends complain about the Ukrainian refugees,” noted Dmitry Eryomin, who has lived in Berlin for seven years. “And on social networks. But the media is silent. They only write about obvious crimes. For example, last year they discussed: a 51-year-old “a Ukrainian woman convinced a German friend to let her into the apartment. After a while, he asked her to move out. She refused and stabbed him to death. Everyone was outraged, but they tried to cover it up quickly,” he says.
Prices are rising, he confirms. The increase in rents is explained by the energy crisis. “Products have increased by 30%. Utility services are almost the same. Although now they are not calling to save electricity and heat, as in December 2022,” the interlocutor explained.
Scholz has become toxic
Scholz’s ratings have long been breaking anti-records, which directly affects his partners. In October, at least 26 current local SDP politicians approached Lindner demanding that he leave the Traffic Light Coalition. There was no reaction. Now “Bild” again reports a “quiet rebellion” among the free democrats due to the “toxicity” of Scholz.
The coalition could fall apart in May-June, before the elections for the European Parliament, or in the autumn, when votes are cast in three German states, experts believe.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU, once led by Angela Merkel) is already ahead of Traffic Light in popularity. It is possible that if there is a heavy defeat in the next election, the partners will risk and turn their backs on the chancellor
Translation: V. Sergeev
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