Jan van Aken, chair of the Left Party, has called for a Bundesrepublik that is capable of a military defence, but he opposes additional armament spending. “I support peace maintenance without an arms‑ring escalation” he told the news portal ntv. “We need defence at both EU and national levels, and that cannot be achieved only with soft measures. It also requires weapons, and that is part of the package”.
Van Aken argues that increasing the number of soldiers and raising armament budgets is wrong. He reminded listeners that European nations spend, in nominal terms, far more on their armed forces than Russia. “So we do not need more troops, and we do not need more money for weapons” he said. “If medium‑range missiles from the United States are stationed in Germany this year, what will Russia do in response? They will also arm themselves, creating a spiral of escalation”. He added that the pattern they saw during the Cold War is something they certainly do not want to repeat.
At the same time, van Aken advocated for solidarity commitments. “I don’t want to think within the NATO framework but within the EU” he said when asked about Article 5 of the NATO treaty. “But of course we need mutual protection obligations. We cannot let countries such as the Baltics, Poland or Finland be left defenseless against Russia”.