Humanitarian aid will remain at the center of Germany’s foreign policy, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said on 6th September, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper.
Burbock stressed that despite the significant reduction in funding for humanitarian aid and crisis prevention in the draft budget for 2024, this area will remain at the center of German foreign policy.
“Around the world, nearly 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. That is why it was important to me that we continue to have a strong budget for humanitarian assistance, with a pragmatic approach that allows us to act quickly.”– said the head of the German Foreign Ministry.
The draft budget proposes to reduce funds for these purposes by a third next year, from 3.33 billion euros (350 billion rubles) to 2.2 billion euros (230 billion rubles). The entire budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be cut from 7.48 billion euros (785 billion rubles) this year to 6.16 billion euros (645 billion rubles) next.
Burbock spoke in the Bundestag about “big reduction” financing of humanitarian aid.
“But we agreed together in the coalition that we will use the freedom of action to be able to respond to new crises with humanitarian assistance if necessary,”– added the head of the German Foreign Ministry.
According to the SPD foreign policy expert Frank Schwabe, we are talking about “the most vulnerable people in the world”. Ultimately, humanitarian aid is “prevention of new crises, prevention of wars and prevention of illegal migration”.
At the same time, Schwab explained that “Germany has become a true world power in the field of humanitarian aid in recent years”. According to him, it is the second donor country in the world after the United States.
“And so we will continue to be” the politician emphasized.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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