"The complaints about the allegedly bad condition of the German Air Force belong to the already known communication strategy. The only aim is to legitimize higher state expenses for arming," Neu said.
Neu also expressed skepticism over the degree of the deterioration of the German military, although he admitted that the country's Armed Forces are being mismanaged.
"Of course, there is real mismanagement on all levels — from [Defense Minister] Ursula von der Leyen at the top of the German 'defense' ministry to the lower levels of ministry and army, which are reorganized according to neoliberal management methods. Last, but not least the influence of the armaments industry and their lobbies is really huge," the lawmaker said.
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Berlin is currently trying to please German businesses, but the Left party believes that Germany is in need of less defense industry products, rather than more of them, Neu said.
"The vast majority of Germans wants to see their troops coming home, and not to fight for interests of German companies or geopolitical gamblers of the strategic community. All these missions do not strengthen Germany's security, but quite on the contrary make our country more vulnerable. Therefore, German taxpayer's money must be claimed back from the manufacturers, who were and are delivering malfunctional — and unnecessary — armor goods," the lawmaker said.
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In March, the German government agreed to extend the country's foreign military missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali. Von der Leyen said the German mission in Iraq would need to focus on supporting the country's restoration efforts.
