Germany decided to renew its armed forces and increase its defense spending by 100 billion euros because of the war of aggression against Russia. The results have so far remained weak, says a recent report.
A few weeks ago it was two years since the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz gave his famous “Zeitenwende” or turning point of the era speech.
Russia had invaded Ukraine, and Germany, contrary to its previous principles, supported Ukraine militarily. Even if braking.
At the same time, Scholz announced that Germany is starting to invest in its defense forces again. One hundred billion euros of additional money was directed to defense.
However, this change of the era is not much visible on the field so far, says the country’s new representative for defense affairs in the Bundestag Eva Höglin report prepared by. News about the report, among other things German magazine Der Spiegel.
– I can’t get over the fact that fundamental improvements to personnel, material and infrastructure were left to wait last year as well, Högl writes in the 174-page report.
According to Högli, the progress achieved in the defense forces has been “individual” and “superficial”.
The barracks are in shocking condition
Högl pays special attention to the poor condition of the barracks.
– The infrastructure is shocking in many places, he writes based on 130 visits to the barracks.
Högl describes, among other things, that the showers are moldy and the toilet bowls are blocked.
– It is shameful in some places and completely unreasonable for our soldiers how bad the German barracks are.
There are improvements to be made, but according to Högli, they will take too long.
Högl says that he constantly receives feedback about the miserable condition of the barracks from the soldiers’ parents.
There is still a shortage of equipment and personnel
Last year, the German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said, according to media reports, that the German armed forces are not capable of defending their country.
The defense forces have suffered from both material and personnel shortages.
One bottleneck has been bureaucracy, which has made it slow to make new purchases.
A lot of talk in public an example is the purchase of a bicycle from 2019. The authorities approving material purchases for the German Defense Forces drew up a seven-page long, 60-item list of requirements for the 500 bicycles before the bikes could be ordered.
Under the leadership of Defense Minister Pistorius, attempts have been made to cut through the bureaucracy of material procurement, but according to Högli’s report, with weak results.
The material shortage is so bad that even the elite units of the German army’s rapid strike ability suffer from it, Högl writes.
According to him, there is still a lot to do, and fixing the problems is not even possible until the medium term.
The weak state of the German armed forces was discussed in a news podcast last year.