The controversial frigate project F‑126 is becoming increasingly costly for taxpayers. In its meeting on Wednesday, the Bundestag’s finance officers plan to release almost €100 million more, according to the budget proposal from the Finance Ministry that Handelsblatt cited.
These funds need to be released because invoices have piled up even after a contract was withdrawn from a Dutch shipyard group. Just last week, parliamentarians had already freed €70 million of previously blocked funds for the frigate programme.
Overall, over €2 billion has now been poured into the project-or, more accurately, dumped into it. Green finance spokesperson Sebastian Schäfer described the F‑126 programme as a “bottomless pit”. The CDU also criticised the effort: “The F‑126 project continues to spiral out of control” said Bastian Ernst, the Union faction’s marine affairs rapporteur. “Until a decision about F‑126’s future is made by the end of April, it is extremely difficult for me to approve further payments” Ernst added.
According to the Greens, there are new vulnerabilities in the way defence spending is audited. The Federal Court of Auditors has restructured the team tasked with overseeing the defence budget. Schäfer points out that none of the new auditors have experience in the defence sector. In a letter to Court of Auditors President Kay Scheller, he expressed confidence that this new audit team will substantially strengthen parliamentary oversight.
