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Germany to continue to be reliable partner despite budgetary challenges — Baerbock

"We will provide this support as long as Ukraine needs it," the German foreign minister noted

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock

© AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

BERLIN, December 5. /TASS/. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed hope that the cabinet would be able to approve the 2024 budget as soon as possible so the country could remain a reliable international partner and continue to provide aid to Ukraine.

"Germany will remain a reliable international partner because security in the world is a contribution to our own security as well, especially against the background of the situation in Ukraine," she said in Ljubljana.

She was quoted as saying by DPA that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that Berlin "will not reduce its support [for Kiev], but the opposite."

"We will provide this support as long as Ukraine needs it," Baerbock added.

The German government is under pressure from a recent verdict by the Federal Constitutional Court, which banned it from spending 60 billion euros on climate and environmental projects. The funds were originally earmarked to combat the pandemic, but the Scholz government reallocated them to a new fund at the end of 2021. The court ruled nearly two years later that the decision was unconstitutional. The government will now have to find a replacement for this money to finance projects that were already agreed upon.

In November, it was reported that the German government planned to increase military aid to Ukraine from 4 billion to 8 billion euros in 2024.

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Ukraine crisis Germany

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