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The German government will not release any additional funds for military support for Ukraine for the time being, the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports, citing a letter from Finance Minister Christian Lindner dated August 5.
The letter, also made available to dpa ahead of the FAZ report, suggests that future support for Ukraine might come from interest on frozen Russian state assets, as decided by the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized states. However, the Ministry of Finance said it remains open to discussions.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance stated: “Fundamentally, though, all decisions to support Ukraine are made in the closest coordination with the Chancellery.”
The Federal Press Office declined to confirm the accuracy of the FAZ report. The Ministry of Defence referred inquiries to the Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery.
Lindner’s letter emphasized that new measures could only be undertaken if financing is secured in the budget plans for this and the coming years.
The letter, addressed to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, also stressed adherence to budgetary limits.
Opposition Christian Democrat (CDU) budgetary politician Ingo Gädechens criticized the government, stating: “From one day to the next, [Chancelor] Olaf Scholz and his centre-left coalition have frozen financial and military support for Ukraine.”
The first draft government budget for 2025, decided by the Cabinet in July, allocated €4 billion ($4.4 billion) for Ukraine support, which reportedly remains unchanged following a new budget compromise agreed on Friday.
A spokesman for the Federal Press Office explained that this amount is mainly intended for military support of Ukraine.
He referred to the G7 summit decision in June, which promised around $50 billion of support to Ukraine by the end of the year, also utilizing interest from frozen Russian state assets.
The Ministry of Finance added that future bilateral aid from Germany would be partially transferred to international programmes.
The Ministry of Finance led by Lindner is open to examining the short-term provision of further funds, provided additional needs are reported and verifiable to comply with budgetary rules and request approval from the Bundestag. However, no concrete notification of need has yet been submitted to the Ministry of Finance, preventing any examination or decision.
For the current year, the German government had planned €4 billion for military support for Ukraine, but the Bundestag increased this amount to nearly €7.5 billion.
A member of the Budget Committee, who wishes to remain unnamed, indicated that there is no more leeway in the budget, stating: “There will be no multibillion-euro shifts in the Bundestag anymore – unless we experience significantly better economic growth in the autumn and thus higher tax revenues than currently foreseeable.”