As [at a press conference following the fresh European Council meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz](https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/abschlussstatement-europaeischer-rat-2294712), it opposes both the taking of fresh defence debts (e.g. the acquisition of military equipment) and the refinancing of national defence expenditure from the EU budget. Interestingly, Scholz admitted that there are different concepts in this area, but he felt that EU funds should only be utilized to finance industrial capacity building and investigation and development. This means that Berlin is rather powerfully opposed to financing straight the building of defence capabilities of EU countries**.
