Development aid: Prominent ex-politicians demand more money for the Global South

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Refugee women in South Sudan

Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa

Well-known former federal politicians are warning the federal government in a cross-party appeal against further cuts in development aid. "Security in Germany and the world is based not only on investments in defense capabilities, but also on investments in global development," says the letter, which SPIEGEL has seen.

The signatories include former Federal President Horst Köhler (CDU), former Bundestag President Norbert Lammert (CDU), former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), ex-Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) and the former development ministers Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) and Gerd Müller (CSU).

It is no coincidence that they wrote their appeal shortly before the Munich Security Conference that begins on Friday. At the international top meeting of politicians, military officials and diplomats, defense spending is likely to be the focus; The NATO states have committed to spending two percent of their economic output on their security.

The signatories of the appeal demand that, in addition to the NATO two percent target, the Oda quota agreed at the United Nations should also be adhered to. It provides for spending on development aid amounting to 0.7 percent of national economic output. The appeal is aimed primarily at the federal government.

“Development policy is security policy”

“Poverty, hunger and climate change must be actively combated and more resources must be invested in education and health, especially in countries in the Global South,” says the call. And further: “Germany plays a key role here and must continue to assume its international responsibility.”

The signatories, which also include Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics, express concern about the recent cuts in German development cooperation. "We demand a return to the 0.7 percent target and an increase in the development budget," they write. Otherwise there is a risk of regression that endangers human lives and prosperity worldwide. The authors emphasize: “Development policy is security policy.”

The initiative was initiated by Stephan Exo-Kreischer, European director of the development organization One. “I hope the federal government takes this appeal seriously and rethinks its own priorities,” said Exo-Kreischer.

Two billion less in the development budget

When preparing the budget for the current year, the traffic light government cut its development budget by around two billion euros. Of this, 940 euros go to the budget of the Ministry of Development, 770 million euros to the budget of the Foreign Office and 200 million euros to the budget of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The federal government does not expect that it will be able to meet the ODA quota for development spending of 0.7 percent of economic output this year. This emerges from a submission from the Ministry of Finance to the Bundestag Budget Committee. The report is available to SPIEGEL.

Last year the federal government was slightly above the 0.7 percent mark. This also included costs for refugees in Germany.

In its coalition agreement, the traffic light committed itself to complying with the Oda quota. What's more, it linked development spending to defense spending. The former should “increase on a scale one-to-one with defense spending,” says the coalition agreement. But with the start of the Ukraine war and the turning point proclaimed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), this intention became obsolete.