Germany Dismisses Sikorski’s Claim On Joint Defense Bonds

Natalia Ojewska and Arne Delfs
·1-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Germany pushed back against the Polish foreign minister’s claim that Berlin changed its mind and will support joint European bonds to finance defense spending.

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Radoslaw Sikorski told the TOK FM broadcaster on Wednesday that Germany expressed backing for the initiative during a meeting in Warsaw with ministers from France, Italy and the UK.

But Katrin Deschauer, a spokeswoman of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, denied any such agreement was reached. She referred back to the conclusions from the meeting on Tuesday that said allies will “discuss innovative financing, and remove obstacles to defense trade and investment.”

Countries like Germany have made it clear they remain opposed to the idea of more joint debt despite the call to reconsider it by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi in his recent report on competitiveness.

Sikorski said Poland favors issuing joint European bonds to finance defense spending.

While defense remains a national prerogative of member states, there has been a push since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 to bolster Europe’s military capacity by reviving a fragmented industrial military base.

Earlier in September, the EU’s first-ever defense chief Andrius Kubilius, said it’s worth exploring the option of issuing joint bonds in order to raise the additional €500 billion ($556 billion) needed to bring the European Union’s industry up to speed.

--With assistance from Piotr Bujnicki.

(Update with comments from Germany in the first and third paragraphs)

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