The concerns over Berlin start‑up Stark’s planned purchase of “loitering‑munition” drones-an arms company in which ultra‑right US investor Peter Thiel holds a stake-appear to have been removed for the SPD parliamentary group. Andreas Schwarz, the SPD budget spokesman responsible for defence policy, told the “Tagesspiegel” that the Ministry of Defence and Stark had already answered the outstanding questions about Thiel’s involvement.
In this view nothing stands in the way of a budget‑committee vote on Wednesday for two drone‑procurement proposals totalling €4.3 billion. “Thiel has no operational influence. That was important to both the Parliament and the minister” Schwarz added.
However, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had expressed, last week, that any approval must first establish clear ownership structures. Sources in the Union say that CDU and CSU MPs also support the procurement proposal.
Green finance minister Sebastian Schäfer criticised the Defence Ministry, which at the end of the previous week had presented a report indicating that, according to the company, Thiel’s share stayed below ten per cent and that the government could intervene if it were higher. Schäfer told the “Tagesspiegel”: “Instead of a careful independent review, the ministry takes the company’s representations almost unfiltered. Such a degree of carelessness is not only irritating but, given the security‑policy situation, highly problematic”.
