BERLIN — Germany’s opposition Greens are turning up the pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz, blasting his coalition for rejecting billions in extra funding for Ukraine.

The government responded that the Greens are playing politics despite Germany being one of Ukraine’s leading supporters.

The clash came during last week’s marathon budget session, where the Bundestag’s Budget Committee finalized the government’s spending plan for 2025. This was a debate that had been delayed due to a snap election in February.

The Greens proposed an amendment calling for an extra €4.5 billion for Ukraine, partially to fund additional air defense systems. The money would have increased Berlin’s Ukraine spending from €8.26 billion to €12.76 billion for this year.

Green budget lawmaker Sebastian Schäfer linked the demand to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.

After Moscow struck civilian targets over the weekend, Schäfer wrote on X: “With the 2025 budget we could provide extra air defense. Unfortunately, Jens Spahn (CDU) and [Matthias] Miersch (SPD) reject it — despite their promises in Kyiv a week ago,” referring to parliamentary group leaders of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democrats (CDU). Both recently traveled to the Ukrainian capital.

The Greens argue that Germany cannot merely compensate for declining U.S. support but must surpass it, warning that without stronger air defenses, Ukraine risks serious battlefield setbacks while Russia consolidates its positions.

Coalition MPs hit back, dismissing the Greens’ proposal as political posturing. 

Andreas Schwarz, an MP with the SPD, said the extra billions could not be spent this year anyway, citing long delivery times for weapons systems and fiscal rules. “This Green proposal is a classic opposition stunt for show, because the money could not be disbursed by year’s end,” Schwarz told POLITICO. 

“It sounds nice, reads well, but has nothing to do with reality. Had we passed it, we would have violated the principle of budgetary truth and clarity.”

Europe has overtaken the U.S. as the leading military aid supporter for Ukraine as Donald Trump’s administration pulls backs on arms supplies to Kyiv, according to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker. Germany is the second-largest military backer of Ukraine, with €16.7 billion allocated since the full-scale war began, while the U.S. has given €64.6 billion.

The broader German budget adopted on Sept. 4 — which still requires approval by the full parliament in early October — already sets aside around €4.2 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine in 2025, plus about €50 million for medical care of wounded Ukrainian soldiers in Germany.  The rest of the total €8.26 billion will finance broader humanitarian and reconstruction efforts.

The Merz government also pushed through reforms to Germany’s constitutional debt brake earlier this year, carving out defense spending above 1 percent of GDP and a new €500 billion infrastructure fund from borrowing limits.