German conservative defends previous government's arms exports

A politician from Germany's former governing party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), has defended the approval of arms exports worth billions shortly before a change of government earlier this month.
"The actions of the caretaker federal government were within the valid legal framework. Therefore, the critical voices of the Greens and the [hard-left] Die Linke are nothing more than crocodile tears," CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter told dpa.
Earlier, it was reported that the former federal government, comprising the CDU and Social Democrats (SPD), had approved arms exports of almost 5 billion euros (5.66 billion dollars) in the last nine days of its term in office.
This brings the total volume of export licences in the current year to over nine billion euros - a record figure.
The number one recipient country by a wide margin is Egypt, which has been criticised for human rights violations and its involvement in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
The new centre-left coalition government - including the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats - is now planning a reform of arms export controls in order to curb arms deliveries to so-called third countries outside the EU and NATO.