Scholz rejects EU debt for armaments
Discussions at an EU summit are focusing on triple-digit billion-euro sums to bolster Europe’s defences. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is against European debt plans.
Brussels (dpa) – At an EU summit in Brussels, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (photo) has firmly ruled out the prospect of joint European debt for defence investments. This was not an option, he said on Tuesday night, adding that the task had to be to create greater flexibility for the individual countries. Scholz was referring to proposals to push the limits on national debt and deficits within EU member states in order to better prepare for potential threats from countries such as Russia.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the informal summit: “I’m prepared to explore the full range of options available to us under the new Stability and Growth Pact and I will make the most of these to enable a significant increase in defence spending.” The EU Commission estimates the additional defence investment required at around 500 billion euros.
Numerous countries have recently shown themselves to be open to so-called Eurobonds or other joint EU financing, but these options are rejected by Germany, as well as by other countries such as the Netherlands and Austria. Closer involvement of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in defence projects was also discussed at the top-level meeting.