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Storm brews over German budget plans

A storm is brewing in Germany's grand coalition government amid signs that the ambitious plans by the government might jeopardize its aim of balancing the budget by 2011.

Published: 11 April 2008 15:24 CEST

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has rejected as unworkable spending requests sent to him by four government ministries that are too expensive for his overall budget plans.

But the ministries concerned – transport, research, education and economy – say their spending plans are part of political goals set by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right government.

Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul told the Financial Times Deutschland on Friday that her ministry’s spending request is to pay for what Merkel promised at a G8 summit in 2007 on reducing poverty and fighting disease in the developing world.

“My minister has only applied in 2009 for what the entire federal government – led by the chancellor – committed itself to internationally,” Wieczorek-Zeul told the paper.

Similar dismay came from Research and Development Minister Annette Schavan, who told the paper that her budget request was in line with government plans to devote three percent of Germany’s gross domestic product in R&D by 2010.

The aim of a balanced federal bugdet in 2010 “is a collective aim of the federal government and therefore a collective duty of all members of the government,” Merkel’s spokesman Thomas Steg told a news conference on Friday.

He stressed that conflicts were inevitable in view of the government’s aims and said that talks on working out a budget for 2009, which is due to be agreed upon by July, were still at an early stage.

“The chancellor expects … that a constructive, amicable solution to all budget issues is achievable,” Steg said.

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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