The largest European military donor is Germany, with €17.7 billion since February 2022, of which €9.4 billion has been allocated. The negative standing of the present German government coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals doesn’t come as a surprise. The German chancellor’s historic 2022 Zeitenwende speech and the bitter reality that it has not had much impact were covered in TIE’s “Letter from Berlin” (Winter 2023). As pointed out recently in Internationale Politik Quarterly, “The debate about whether or not to de liver Western-made main battle tanks to Ukraine lasted from April 2022 to January 2023 — that is emblematic of Berlin’s current indecisiveness: Germany still has a hard time not only taking the lead, but also making up its mind, thereby making it difficult for partners to support German policies as well as to make their own choices…
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