The gloomy Teutonic military-industrial genius may not be shy about his reputation in the market for lethal vehicles: the multifunctional combat aircraft Eurofighter, the main battle tank Leopard, the project 214 submarine - these products, according to Der Spiegel, brought Germany to the third place in the world list of leaders in arms exports. … This is not enough for the government: in order to compensate the industry for losses from a decrease in state orders, the authorities can significantly weaken export controls. A.2 provides a translation of the original publication in a German journal.
The first, according to the publication, were the French. When a few years ago, the French Ministry of Defense announced a plan to promote the export of military products, Germany responded to this by self-restraint in the field of arms exports by adopting a corresponding federal law in 2000 that formulated prohibitive measures against the export of military equipment.
Since then, according to Der Spiegel, the situation has not changed at all. The magazine quotes from the business weekly WirtschaftsWoche, to which a representative of the German defense industry complains about French competitors: "We are some kind of hicks here, and they are there, it turns out, they are all Dartanians!"
The end of injustice
As stated in the conclusions of the commission for the export of German military products, headed by the head of the Federal Labor Agency Frank-Jürgen Weisse, the German defense industry in the near future will depend on the export of military and civilian products more than it has been so far. As a result, the Commission sent to Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Gutenberg recommendations to bring national legislation in line with European standards in terms of arms exports.
With a focus on export
Heidemarie Wiezorek-Zeul of the center-left SPD is seriously alarmed. For eleven years she was Federal Minister for Development and served on the so-called Federal Security Council, which determines which weapons can be exported and to whom. She shared her concerns with Der Spiegel: “Those (politicians) who are talking about the need to unite with their EU partners are only striving to somehow bypass the prohibitive restrictions on the export of military equipment”. In her opinion, the CDU / CSU coalition, led by the incumbent Chancellor Merkel and the FDP (traditionally having very good relations with business), aims at only one thing: export, export and once again - the export of arms.
The Coalition's program for the export of military products proclaims a "responsible policy in the export of arms", the aim of which is to harmonize the German position with the export rules and regulations of other EU countries at the highest level. " Bureaucratic barriers should be eliminated, and all kinds of administrative formalities should be simplified, mechanisms should be accelerated.
Elke Hoff, head of the committee on defense policy of the Free Democrats faction in the Bundestag, said that the conclusions of the commission's conclusions "coincide so much with the position of the party coalition that they seem to have been written off from our agreement."
Hoff doesn't understand why her opponents are worried. “If we were not interested in supplying weapons to Germany's allies, then we could liquidate the war industry immediately. But we need to keep jobs. In general, about 80 thousand people are directly employed in the defense industry, another 10 thousand are involved in one way or another on the part of subcontractors.
German unions believe that in the next few years, the Ministry of Defense will try to save about 9 billion euros in procurement for the Bundeswehr. Recently in Bavaria, there was a demonstration against plans to cut the defense budget, in which two thousand employees of Cassidian (a division of EADS) took part. A metalworkers union spokesman warned that the layoff could lead to the elimination of 10,000 jobs in Germany.
How to cut the budget and not fire people?
According to Florian Hahn of the Christian Social Union, partner of Merkel's Christian Democrats, “since the domestic market will shrink as a result of the military reform, we need to increase exports. Other countries are far ahead of us. So, according to him, too little is being done in India to promote the Eurofighter.
The current legislation in the field of military production and export is based on the principles formulated under the previous Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. They demand that, with regard to military products, "employment and job preservation issues are not decisive."
Khan believes that it is now appropriate to weaken export controls. Until now, the industry has had a hard time adjusting to the demands of the Federal Security Council. “Some don't even know where the Council is sitting. Hopefully, the decision-making process will become faster and more transparent,”says Khan.
The weapons lobby will love this. Many of the proposals from the Merkel cabinet mimic the demands made by the German Defense and Security Association for export support. Among them:
- Creation of interdepartmental mechanisms to improve coordination of government actions;
- Facilitating access to export markets through support through intergovernmental agreement mechanisms;
- Simplification of procedures for issuing export permits in order to accelerate entry into international competition.
What are rich
Even in conditions of severe self-restraint, Germany remains the third largest arms exporter in the world. In the past, Germany more than once or twice went to conclude controversial deals, like the delivery of the Fuchs BRDM to Saudi Arabia in 1991.
In the list of leaders in arms exports, Germany is second only to the United States and France, ahead of Britain and France, which are so jealous of the German defense industry. According to the authoritative institute SIPRI, in the period from 2005 to 2009. Germany's share of the world arms market was 11%. The main recipients of German weapons are Turkey (14%), Greece (13%) and South Africa (12%). In 2008, the German government approved the export of arms worth over 6 billion euros.
As Der Spiegel summarizes, the existing export restrictions of the Schroeder era are clearly no longer an obstacle. Vitsorek-Zal considers it necessary to tighten them and calls for the establishment of parliamentary control over the export of arms. According to her, "the parliament should not simply receive information about the decisions already made on the export of arms." She insists that this area should be transferred to the jurisdiction of the committee on international affairs.
However, on this issue, she cannot count on the support of the parliamentary majority.
