BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is sceptical about joint European bonds per se but is open to common financing to support concrete European projects in the defence area, Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Monday in Brussels.
“What we aren’t convinced about is just to raise [European] debt and distribute it to 27 procurement projects that are distinct from each other,” Kukies said.
Last week European leaders backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by President Donald Trump’s reversal of U.S. policies.
The European Commission wants to mobilise up to 800 billion euros ($863 billion) for European defence, including a plan to borrow up to 150 billion euros to lend to national governments.
The commission is now working on different proposals and Kukies said Germany’s backing will depend on the exact formulation of the specific plans.
The EU needs to regain competitiveness and economic growth to have the fiscal space needed to boost defence spending, he added.
“We will have to also show to the world that Europe is back again, not only in creating fiscal space to spend on defence but also in fixing its lack of competitiveness,” Kukies said.
(Reporting by Maria Martinez, editing by Thomas Seythal and Toby Chopra)
