Germany vows to relax its caveats on European arms exports

The German government has promised to ease its restrictive export policy when pursuing joint weapon programs with European partners, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Monday.

The pledge follows a provision in the governing coalition’s charter, approved last year, that envisions a complete revamp of Berlin’s bureaucracy. Germany would need to move away from “insisting on special rules for exporting armaments” as the tight rules imposed by Berlin often “stand in the way” of European defence projects, she said on Monday.

Germany currently insists on including a so-called “values proviso clause” (Wertevorbehalt) in any agreements for joint arms projects with other EU countries, under which it can veto exports of jointly developed weapon systems to certain countries on ethical grounds.

According to Lambrecht, the risk of investing large sums in the development and production of weapon systems only for Berlin to stop their sale deters many EU partners from launching joint projects with Germany – which should show more “leadership” in the military realm.

Despite calling for more liberal arms exports, Lambrecht continued to voice reservations against delivering modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine – despite increased pressure both from Kyiv and the Berlin government to do so to support Ukraine’s recent sweeping military advances.

“So far, no country has delivered Western armoured personnel carriers or battle tanks – and we have agreed with our partners that we will not make any German solo runs,” she said.