German foreign minister vows new law to limit weapons exports

Europe, News December 28, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that a new law was being formulated to modify the country’s weapons export regulations after the previous administration approved a record volume of foreign weapons sales in 2021.

In the last few days of Angela Merkel’s government, nearly 5 billion euros arms sales were approved. Baerbock said that new arms export control legislation is in the works, which would reverse that process.

Baerbock said, “We as a [new government] coalition have clearly stated that we would reassess the policy of defense exports of recent years. That is why we are working on an arms exports law that will make clearer the criteria by which arms exports are approved.”

The new coalition government in Germany, which is made up of the center-left Social Democrats, the Greens, and the neoliberal FDP, vowed to tighten weapons exports to third countries outside the European Union and NATO alliance.

On December 25, German news agency DPA reported that in the year 2021, the Merkel government approved a total of 9 billion euros ($10 billion) worth of weapons contracts. More than half of the contracts were approved in Merkel’s last few days as prime minister.

Merkel’s administration signed a deal to deliver a military submarine to Singapore and approved the sale of three warships and 16 air defense systems from Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Diehl Defense to the North African country. Egypt has been one of the main export destinations for German arms.

*^{Germany’s Diehl Defence surface-launched IRIS-T SL Guided Missile System}*

According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, along with the United States, Russia, and France, Germany has been one of the world’s largest arms exporters, which accounted for 5.5% of global arms exports from 2016 to 2020. The report revealed that South Korea, Egypt, and Algeria were among the top buyers of German weapons and military tech.

However, German foreign policy expert for the conservative bloc, Roderich Kiesewetter warned that “It is in Germany’s interest if Middle East countries continue to be supported in their armaments policy by EU states. It cannot be in our interest if, in future, these states obtain their supplies from China or Russia.”

Kiesewetter added that it is important to safeguard Germany’s security interests in the upcoming reform of weapons export regulations.