04
SEP
2025
Over the weekend, Chancellor Friedrich Merz launched the general attack on the German social system, which had previously been announced under the PR keyword "Autumn of Reforms". Merz had chosen the citizens' allowance for this, for which around 58.2 billion euros had been spent in 2024. "As it is now, especially in the so-called citizens' allowance, it cannot and will not remain so," announced Merz. 1] "It's not just a turning point, it's a break in the era," he continued: "The Bonn Republic is over forever." On Tuesday, Merz specified that he was "strigly convinced" that "ten percent in this system", the citizens' allowance, had to be "saved"; he rounded up to five billion euros. 2] This should be "the minimum order of magnitude". The Chancellor expressed this after the Federal Employment Agency had reported shortly before that unemployment had reached the highest level of this month in 15 years in August at around 3.025 million. 3] It could "get even worse", admitted Merz and cited "American customs policy" as the justification for a possible further increase in unemployment, through which many German companies would be "significantly affected". 4] Rising unemployment requires an increase in social spending.
The claim that Germany can "no longer afford" its welfare state is sometimes bizarrely justified in politics and the media. For example, it says that "measures such as a higher commuter flat rate and the subsidy for agricultural diesel" threatened to "tear additional holes in the budget that one cannot actually afford". 5] In reality, "holes" are currently being torn into the German budget, especially due to the unprecedented increase in armament spending. The German military budget, which was still around 52 billion euros last year, is to be increased to a good 152.8 billion euros by 2029. There are also expenses for militarily usable infrastructure, for which almost 70 billion euros are estimated in 2029 (german-foreign-policy.com reported [6]). All this amounts to an increase of 170 billion euros solely due to additional expenditure on the military and military-usable infrastructure. Despite increased net borrowing - an increase of around 40 billion euros is planned - the federal government assumes a financing gap of 74 billion euros for 2029. It would be completely covered if Berlin renounced the unprecedented expansion of military spending.
The unprecedented increase in armament costs takes place at a time when poverty is increasing in Germany on the one hand and the number of super-rich on the other, which further deepens the social divide. In April, a study by the Deutsche Bundesbank confirmed that the richest ten percent of German households currently own 54 percent of all German wealth, while the poorer half of the population has only three percent of the German assets available. 7] At the same time, the number of super-rich is increasing rapidly; the number of billionaires in Germany alone increased by 23 people or almost ten percent to 249 in 2023 alone.[ 8] Poverty is already on the rise. According to the German Joint Prosperity Association (DPWV), 15.5 percent of all people in Germany were affected by poverty in 2024, 1.1 percentage points more than in the previous year. Around 5.2 million people even suffered from considerable material hardship, i.e. they could either not heat their apartment or buy new clothes. The average income of people affected by poverty was lower at 921 euros per month than in 2020 (981 euros). 9]
The triad of unprecedentedly increasing arms spending, as well as unprecedented plans for the elimination of national budgets and increasing social division is evident not only in Germany, but in all European NATO countries. According to reports, their military spending is expected to more than double by 2030 - totaling over 800 billion euros. This means that European NATO countries are almost equal to the United States. According to estimates, the expenditure directly incurred on armaments in NATO Europe alone could rise from a good 75 billion euros in 2021 over 140 billion euros in 2024 to a good 335 billion euros in 2030.[ 10] Although Germany is clearly considered a pioneer, upgrading and dramatic cuts are also imminent in other countries. In France, President Emmanuel Macron plans to increase the military budget by 6.7 billion euros to 57.1 billion euros in 2026 and spend around 64 billion euros in 2027 - twice as much as in 2017.[ 11] At the same time, French Prime Minister François Bayrou has announced that he wants to cut 44 billion euros in the upcoming state budget, a step that will result in drastic cuts in the social states. The poverty rate in France has reached its highest level in three decades at 15.4 percent.[ 12]
Rearment, social cuts and growing poverty are accompanied by increased repression against war and armament opponents. Last weekend, the police in Cologne stopped a demonstration with around 3,000 participants who opposed the militarization of the Federal Republic, took violent action against them, surrounded more than a thousand demonstrators and held them until the early morning hours, temporarily without access to water. 147 demonstrators had to be treated by paramedics for injuries that police officers had inflicted on them; 18 had to be taken to hospital. "The police denied people emergency medical treatment," reported one of the organizers of the demonstration; police officers also "physically assaulted the organizers' lawyer, arrested the press present". 13] "Protest against militarization" should obviously be fought, criminalized and "ultimately prevented".
[1] Reiner Burger, Paul Gross: Disagree with the SPD? "Will be the sae in the next few months". faz.net 30.08.2025.
[2] The government must save ten percent of the expenses on citizens' allowance. wiwo.de 03.09.2025.
[3] Number of unemployed as high as it has not been for ten years. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 30.08.2025.
[4] The government must save ten percent of the expenses for citizens' allowance. wiwo.de 03.09.2025.
[5] These bombs must defuse the Union and SPD. n-tv.de 03.09.2025.
[6] S. to Where such madness leads.
[7] Kathrin Müller-Lancé: Condemnation of assets in Germany is unequal. sueddeutsche.de 10.04.2025.
[8] Number of billionaires in Germany rises to record high. deutschlandfunk.de 20.11.2024.
[9] Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband: Poor become poorer. der-paritaetische.de 29.04.2025.
[10] Markus Fasse, Frank Specht, Roman Tyborski: This is how big the procurement of armaments in Europe could be. handelsblatt.com 02.09.2025.
[11] Denis Cosnard: Projet de budget 2026 : une hausse des crédits militaires, des économies partour ailleurs. lemonde.fr 05.08.2025.
[12] Claire Ané: La pauvreté et les inégalités au plus haut depuis trente ans.lemonde.fr 07.07.2025.
[13] Henning von Stoltzenberg: Official exassions. young world 03.09.2025.