The federal government's plans to give the Bundeswehr 100 billion euros in new loans and ignore the debt rule are taking shape.

The FAZ has received the two draft laws to amend the Basic Law and to set up the special fund.

The planned paragraph 1a in Article 87a of the Basic Law authorizes the federal government to establish a special fund that is intended to strengthen the armed forces.

This credit authorization is specifically exempt from the credit limits of the debt rule.

Manfred Schaefers

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The draft bill of the interior and finance ministries states: "In order to strengthen alliance and defense capabilities, the federal government can set up a special fund with its own credit authorization of up to a one-off amount of up to 100 billion euros.

Article 109 paragraph 3 and Article 115 paragraph 2 shall not apply to the credit authorization.

The details are governed by a federal law."

"The fund has no legal capacity"

The reason given in the draft law is that the instrument of a special fund will be chosen “because this financing task will be very extensive and will last for a long time”.

With this decision, the signal should be given "that the medium to long-term upgrading of the Bundeswehr will be implemented on the basis of a permanently secured financial basis and thus internationally visible and credible".

The financing volume could not be realized within the framework of the debt rule.

Nevertheless, the special fund should not call into question the debt brake of the Basic Law.

For the other federal tasks, it is still important to keep the federal debt within the limits otherwise drawn in the Basic Law in the interest of intergenerational justice.

The new regulation does not provide for the special fund to expire automatically on a fixed date.

Even if the additional borrowing via the special fund will run alongside the national debt limit, it remains the case that these loans will fall below the European deficit ceiling.

Nevertheless, the reform is likely to be of eminent importance for the further debate in Brussels.

Because in Europe there have been repeated calls to exclude individual areas of expenditure, such as defense costs, from the European deficit limitation.

The proponents of such a softening of the European debt rule could use the Federal Government's approach as a model.

With another law, the special fund is actually created.

"Expenditures for complex multi-year measures to equip the armed forces will be made from the special fund," says the draft of the Ministry of Finance.

The projects named for this purpose in the annual business plan are conclusive.

"The fund has no legal personality.

It can act under its name in legal transactions, sue and be sued.” The Federal Ministry of Finance is to administer the special fund.

Once the credit authorization has been fully utilized, the loans are to be repaid within a reasonable period of time.

What that should look like will be settled later.