Export licenses for German armaments fell last year

After a record in 2019, export licenses for German armaments fell by more than a quarter last year. This emerges from the arms export report for 2020, which the federal cabinet approved on Wednesday. After that, the government allowed the export of arms and military equipment worth 5.82 billion euros - 27 percent less than the 8.015 billion euros in the previous year. The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced the figures at the beginning of the year. With the 140-page export report, the government is fulfilling its duty to create a certain degree of transparency about the business of the German arms industry and about arms deliveries by the Bundeswehr abroad. The front runner among the recipient countries was again Hungary with an export volume of 838.4 million euros. It was followed by Egypt (763.8), Israel (582.4) and the USA (510.0). The deliveries to Egypt in particular are controversial because of the human rights situation in the hard-handed country, but also because of the involvement in the Yemen war. The Ministry of Economic Affairs pointed out that 99 percent of the approved deliveries to Egypt were for the naval forces. These included submarines and patrol boats. These goods were not suitable for internal repression or for use in the Yemen conflict, said a spokeswoman. "Efficient naval forces are in Egypt's legitimate defense policy interests and also in the international interests of coastal and sea route security." The federal government's export permits fell continuously between 2016 and 2018, but then rose sharply in 2019. Since individual transactions can be in the high three-digit million range or, in extreme cases, even billions, the statistics are subject to strong fluctuations. In 2020, the share of exports to countries that do not belong to the EU or NATO or are on an equal footing with these countries, such as Japan and Australia. Around half of the approved deliveries (50.1 percent) went to these so-called third countries, in 2019 it was 44.1 percent. Exports to these countries are particularly controversial because some of them are involved in conflicts or violate certain human rights standards.