Resistance to armaments projects: Panter fights for Saxony!

Resistance to armaments projects: Panter fights for Saxony!

Großenhain, Deutschland - In Saxony, the pressure on the state government grows to increasingly turn to the armaments industry. Economic Minister Dirk Panter (SPD) announced in his first declaration of government in the Saxon state parliament that he would like to recruit more arms. This is done in a context that is characterized by falling economic output. In the fourth quarter of 2024, economic output in Saxony fell by 1.8% and 6,000 industrial workplaces were lost. In addition, the city and municipal day demanded more support for municipalities that had a health deficit of 680 million euros sächsische.de .

Panter emphasized that the federal government plans to invest three -digit billions of billions in security deployments and asked the question of whether these funds should also flow in Saxony. He pointed out the resistance among the population, especially against the planned ammunition factory of Rheinmetall in Grossenhain. If one looks at the situation in other federal states, a slight economic growth was recorded in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by orders from the armaments industry, which also becomes clear in a similar debate about the shipyard in Wolgast mdr.de .

economic challenges and perspectives

The current economic situation in Saxony is tense. The opposition expresses concerns about Panter's push, BSW member of the state parliament Ralf Böhme described whose plea for the armaments industry as strange. Despite the criticism, Panter relies on the further development of the armaments and security industry to secure jobs, also by taking over the Alstom location by the armaments company KNDS in Görlitz stern.de .

In a further step towards economic development, Panter plans to reduce bureaucracy. Among other things, this includes the waiver of the check -up for loans in order to minimize the effort for companies. In the course of the Corona pandemic, 750 million euros were awarded to loans, of which several thousand repayments are still open.

social and political aspects

parallel to economic development there are social policy initiatives. Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs Petra Köpping stimulates an exchange between students from western and eastern Germany. In addition, the Bundeswehr launched a new recruitment approach by sending personalized postcards to 16- and 17-year-olds in Saxony, which is concerned about 70,000 young people.

The average gross monthly earnings in Saxony were almost 3,990 euros in 2024, with the highest merits in the energy supply and in the field of education. The current developments in the armaments industry seem to be inextricably linked to the broader economic and social challenges of the federal state.