Aid to Ukraine in 2025 is guaranteed despite political crisis - German government
Germany is guaranteed to continue providing assistance to Ukraine in 2025, despite the government crisis.
This was stated by German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on November 8, Censor.NET reports citing Voice of America.
"It is important to say that the assistance to Ukraine, military support, financial support, is provided, and that we provide significant assistance both at the national level and at the level of the Group of Seven countries," Hoffmann said.
Germany has budgeted about 4.4 billion euros to help Ukraine in the draft budget for 2025, which is about half of the 8 billion euros Berlin provided to Kyiv in 2024.
The German Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft budget in the summer. In turn, the country's parliament was supposed to approve it by the end of the year. However, this process has so far been suspended due to the collapse of the German coalition government and may be postponed until mid-2025.
At the same time, sources in the budget committee told Reuters that funds for Ukraine have been allocated in the form of committed appropriations, and therefore can be provided under the temporary budget management if the country's budget for next year is not adopted on time. After all, in the event of a delay in the adoption of the budget, the German Constitution allows for temporary expenditures to cover the gaps caused by such a delay.
"The launch of new financing programs will require a decision by the budget committee or the Bundestag," Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on October 7. "So there is a certain limitation on new programs, but everything that is already in place can continue as planned.
While in Budapest for meetings with European leaders, Scholz said that "it is clear that we must continue to support Ukraine."
As a reminder, on November 7, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the dismissal of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who is the head of the Free Democratic Party. This effectively means the collapse of the ruling government coalition in Germany. The next Bundestag elections may be held in March 2025.
