Germany’s cabinet has approved a draft law to accelerate arms procurement for the military, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday, calling it a “quantum leap” for national security.
The bill is designed to cut red tape and allow the Bundeswehr to buy weapons and equipment faster and with fewer bureaucratic hurdles.
Why does Germany say it needs to speed up arms procurement?
The proposed legislation cites Russia as “the most immediate threat to peace and security” and stresses Germany’s need to boost NATO defense capacity. Officials say there is no indication Moscow is willing to end the war in Ukraine and that Russia’s war goals “go beyond Ukraine.”
“We want to speed up procurement to make Germany safer,” Pistorius told a press conference in Berlin. “If the tank is full but the fuel line is clogged, then it won’t help us much.”
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said the changes would give arms producers planning certainty and help scale production. “We need more weapons and we need them faster,” she said.
To achieve defense capability, Germany is taking on significant new debt, Reiche said. “We must invest this money in new technologies for air defense, satellite capabilities, drones, autonomous systems, and AI capabilities.”
How will procurement be done quicker?
The draft law proposes higher so-called value limits so that the Bundeswehr can award contracts directly more quickly, rather then putting them out to tender.
Currently, this value limit is generally €15,000 ($17,600), but it should be increased to €50,000, Reiche said.
For contracts that strengthen defense capabilities, the new value limit would be €443,000 while the construction threshold would rise to €1 million. Procurement would also be accelerated for barracks construction and repair.
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The federal government also wants to facilitate cooperation with start-ups developing innovative defense technology. These young companies could receive advance payments for contracts “on a much larger scale” in the future, Pistorius said.
This is because they often lack the financial means “to be able to ramp up production quickly.”
To support the increased military spending, Germany has loosened its constitutional debt limits. NATO recently adopted a target for members to spend 5%, including related infrastructure, of GDP on defense by 2035 — a Cold War-level figure.
What are opponents saying?
The Green Party criticized the plans as inadequate with “far too little” being done.
Green Party parliamentary group deputy Agnieszka Brugger told the Rheinische Post newspaper it would be necessary to increase production capacities and solve supply chain problems.
An example of how this could be achieved, she said, was through more joint European procurement projects.
The Left Party accused the coalition of giving “priority” to “war preparation” with the law and allowing it to override contract standards.
Left Party lawmaker Pascal Meiser said the bill opened up a doorway to wasteful spending and corruption.
“The federal government’s plans to accelerate awarding contracts threaten to become a gateway for the inefficient use of taxpayer money and crony capitalism,” he said.
The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts also urged safeguards to ensure fair competition and participation for small regional businesses.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
