Opposition leader: Germany's foreign and defence policies 'in ruins'

Germany's conservatives seriously neglected the defence force over the past two decades and the country's foreign and security policies were now in ruins, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said in an interview published on Sunday.

Friedrich Merz, the opposition party's chairman, told newspaper Bild am Sonntag that "serious failures" were made on defence by Germany's formerly governing conservative bloc, made up of the CDU and its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

"Looking back, we must unfortunately say that all defence ministers of the past 20 years made wrong decisions about materiel and the condition of troops," Merz said.

The German military has for years been dogged by reports of outdated and depleted equipment.

Between the end of 2005 and the end of last year, Germany's Ministry of Defence was led by members of either the CDU or the CSU. Social Democrat Peter Struck served as defence minister from mid-2002.

Discussing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Merz told the newspaper: "The entire German foreign and security policies of the past 20 years are in ruins. When this war is over, we must carefully analyse how this happened."

"Massive sanctions and isolation of Russia" were required no later than 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, he said.

Following the outbreak of the war, Chancellor Olaf Scholz in March launched a massive rearmament programme for the German army, announcing a €100 billion special fund for investment in military equipment.