One has wondered for quite some time now as to what might Germany’s response be to the threats leveled by Russia.
Just a fortnight ago, Russia alluded to a particular course of action the country could take when speaking to Finland on the context of the latter’s NATO membership, which Putin was opposed to- and understandably so.
But just what did one see?
The moment Finland applied for a NATO membership, Russia responded by cutting down all the gas supplies to the Sanna Marin-led country. Thankfully, there was no military offensive from Russia’s end.
Though, truth be told, such a stroke of luck may not favour Germany, a country clearly aware of the extent to which an irksome Russia can go in a bid to wreak havoc.
As a matter of fact, it was only a few hours ago where Russia clearly leveled a warning against both France and Germany regarding the two extending arms support to Ukraine, clearly Russia’s enemy.
So against that background, who knows what may happen to Germany in the course of the imminent future? While a military offensive may not obviously be the most rational course of action to take, you just never know with Russia- do you?
Though, what is known from Germany’s perspective is that the Olaf Scholz-led country is leaving nothing to chance should it actually encounter, in even the unlikeliest of circumstances, some form of Russian offensive.
This leads us to the question as to what preparations is Germany taking on at this point in time in its bid to safeguard itself from any sort of military threat that Russia may undertake since the Putin-land isn’t too impressed with the strongman of Western Europe where it stands now.
The following is what one of Germany’s stand out news platforms in DW had to report on the subject and it’s honestly worth taking a note of:
Germany’s coalition government and the conservative CDU/CSU alliance on Sunday agreed on the details of a €100 billion ($107 billion) boost to the country’s military spending.
After more than three hours of talks in Berlin, both sides finalized the plan to create a special fund for the armed forces.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht called it an “urgently needed step.” In a statement posted to Twitter, she said: “Finally, we can equip our troops as they deserve and as they urgently need to ensure national and alliance defense.”
The proposal needed a two-thirds majority in both parliamentary chambers, so Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought pre-approval from the center-right opposition parties.
But moving on, none of the above courses of action, could ever be rendered complete without taking into consideration that some changes at the constitution level may have to be taken.
So how’s that?
Fundamentally speaking, the boost that Germany is aiming for towards strengthening its military is no meager sum; it runs into €100 billion worth of new investment, which can be only pumped into the country’s first line of defence by way of creating a new fund.
But for that fund to be created, the country will have to amend its constitution that can allow its creation.
Furthermore, what will be required to set up this new fund, a separate law will have to be drafted, which will set out the details of this fund.
Lastly, this fund could last until the end of 2026 and that under Scholz, Germany is now ready to spend up to 2 percent of its GDP on defense spending. So that, in essence, is how serious is Deutschland about the threats being leveled by Russia!