Berlin’s military aid to Kiev should not be viewed as the cause of the country’s economic struggles, the foreign minister has said
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine is the reason behind the cost-of-living crisis in Germany, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Bild news outlet in an interview published on Saturday.
Asked for an explanation for Berlin’s latest pledge of military aid to Kiev while Germany suffers from soaring inflation, causing people to cut back on expenses such as vacations, Baerbock said, “one has nothing to do with the other.” She claimed that it is not the military aid for Ukraine which is weighing on Germans’ pockets, but Russia’s military operation.
“This Russian war of aggression is not only the cause of the catastrophic situation in Ukraine… but is also the reason why the world economy has gotten into another crisis after [Covid-19], that hunger in the world has grown, that we are also in an economic recession in Europe, because we have made ourselves independent of Russian gas and oil,” Baerbock stated.
“In other words, to all those who are now saying: ‘Do something about inflation,’ to them I reply: ‘This is one of the reasons why this war must stop.’”
Baerbock said the fact that people don’t have enough money to go on vacation hurts her as well, but urged people “to be careful that we don’t start to look away from what’s happening in Ukraine when we’re talking about vacations because this war hasn’t left us untouched either.”
“Pitting the suffering in Ukraine against social benefits in Germany is of no use to anyone here in Germany who has little money. And it would be a mockery of the people of Ukraine,” she stated.
Berlin has openly supported Kiev in the conflict with Moscow, and earlier this week, finalized yet another military aid package for Ukraine worth €700 million ($786 million). German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this week that his country expects to provide Ukraine with a total of $19 billion worth of arms deliveries by 2027.
However, the German public has been increasingly wary of military support for Kiev, while Germany slipped into recession in early 2023 amid soaring inflation. In December 2022, a YouGov poll indicated that 45% were against sending German Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. In February this year, almost two-thirds of Germans polled opposed providing Kiev with fighter jets.
At a party rally in Brandenburg last month, Scholz was booed and whistled at over his efforts in sending military aid to Ukraine, with attendees calling him a “warmonger” and demanding “peace without weapons.”
