German Greens Push Defense Spending as Engine for Industrial Revival

A recent Greens policy brief argues that Germany’s expanding defence budget should become the cornerstone of a broader industrial renewal. After the Bundestag abandoned its post-war pacifist stance in early 2022, defence spending climbed from $56 billion in 2022 to $67 billion in 2023 and $88 billion in 2024, with a target of $152 billion by 2029. The report links this fiscal shift to a deteriorating manufacturing sector, which is losing roughly 15,000 jobs each month and seeing its Mittelstand shrink.

It proposes a suite of reforms, including embedding security requirements in national research programmes, lowering procurement thresholds for small firms, and offering state guarantees for private ventures. The working group that drafted the paper includes representatives from firms such as Airbus Defence & Space, Heckler & Koch, Hensoldt AG and Safran Electronics & Defense, suggesting a lobbying dimension. While the Greens present the plan as a way to protect voters from the costs of militarisation, economists cited argue that defence spending yields little multiplier effect compared with investment in health, education or infrastructure. The piece concludes that the party’s historic pacifist stance is being eclipsed by a pragmatic, market-oriented approach to security and growth.