German defense companies stand to benefit from a €10 billion (U.S. $11 billion) cash infusion under a massive stimulus package meant to soften the economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Leaders of the coalition government last week unveiled the measure, which provides a total of €130 billion, in the hopes of mustering enough economic “oomph” to get through the crisis swiftly, as Finance Minister Olaf Scholz put it.
The fact that a defense earmark is included in the package as an explicit instrument for helping industry sets something of a new tone in a country where defense sector dealings are traditionally treated as a necessary evil in the business of geopolitics.
Germany; Government plans multi billion € stimulus aid to defense industries