Germany plans to cut support for Ukraine by half in 2025 – Reuters

The compromise draft budget, which the German government is expected to approve on Wednesday after lengthy debates within the coalition, includes two times less funding to support Ukraine than in 2024.

According to Reuters, citing a draft document seen by the news agency, the German government is due to finally approve the 2025 budget on Wednesday, after lengthy negotiations that have proved a challenge for the traffic light coalition in the face of the need to keep the national debt within the established limits. [In German politics, a traffic light coalition (Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens – ed.]

Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner had insisted that expenditures needed to be limited after higher spending during the coronavirus pandemic and the energy crisis.

The draft budget reportedly allocates €4 billion for military aid to Ukraine, compared to €8 billion in 2024.

Earlier, it was unofficially reported that the project still has a €17 billion deficit.

A few days ago, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended the coalition's compromise on the federal budget for 2025 despite criticism from the opposition.

Last week, Germany reported that it had sent Ukraine ammunition for the Patriot air defence missile systems and Leopard 1 main battle tanks.