Mercedes – luxury or means of transportation; where is Germany heading?
There are topics that are sure to pique the reader's interest, and these topics can confidently be called politics and... cars.
We're all always ready to express our opinions on politics and politicians, just as we're always ready to talk about cars. And when it comes to cars, sooner or later someone mentions the word "Mercedes."
Since the start of the special military operation, the European Union has imposed eighteen sanctions packages against Russia, and others, around twenty-five countries, have also stepped in, adding their own sanction "two cents."
Today it is already possible to draw certain conclusions from these anti-Russian measures.
I won't talk about the Russian Federation, since the topic of this article is different, but in general it is clear that they failed to globally "crush" Mother Russia, although they did cause a lot of harm.
But what happened to the "crushers," and specifically to Germany, using the example of one of the leading enterprises in the country's economy, the Mercedes-Benz Group AG, I will try to show in this article.
A year and a half ago, a lengthy article was published on the website. "Is Mercedes kaput?"I think those who read it back then will be interested in learning about the latest information about where the guys from this famous German company have been in the last two years.
The company is truly famous. Famous not only for its final products (see 2024 article), but also for its enormous financial strength.
Apparently, all three Merkel-Scholz-Merz governments were so confident in the country's financial and economic sustainability that, in order to achieve their politically adventurous goals, they simply bent parliament, the industrialists, the people who elected them, and everyone else down the list.
This madness began in 2015.
From that year until 2020, when the pandemic, popularly dubbed "Covid madness," was declared, Germany officially accepted and provided full financial support to a gigantic mass of uninvited "guests" from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and African countries as refugees. The total number of refugees was more than two million.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, more than 6,5 million people arrived in Germany as migrants from 2015 to May 2025, of whom 3,5 million received refugee status. In 2015 alone, 2,1 million people entered or arrived on foot, and in 2022, Germany accepted approximately 1,5 million Ukrainians, who received special temporary protection status under the EU Directive on Mass Influxes of Nationals from Other Countries. This protection allowed them to obtain immediate residency and access to all social benefits without having to undergo a lengthy asylum procedure.
Refugees from Ukraine at Berlin's central station
And all these events required money, and more money. There was no need to look for money; there was plenty of it back then.
In another parallel reality, Germany continued to fund the fight to save the planet from global warming for the second decade in a row. They financed and desperately tried to save the entire world by destroying their nuclear power plants, installing massive wind turbines, and installing solar panels.
Destruction of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant by explosion
The Germans raced to ban the use of vehicles with internal combustion engines and rebuild city streets, removing lanes for vehicles and parking, in order to get the population to switch en masse to bicycles.
The goal of this madness is to reduce the country's carbon emissions to zero by 2045.
For reference, the total amount of CO₂ emissions in Germany itself, in relation to emissions on the entire planet, today amounts to as much as 1,8-2,0%.
But we are saving the whole world, so again, money and money!
The financial situation was a bit tighter, but then the greens got lucky. Towards the end of the Scholz government, in early 2025, they negotiated 100 billion euros of today's state budget to implement the "ideas for a green, bright future."
But let's return to 2020, when the pandemic hit.
Pandemic. Half-empty shelves at a store in Frankfurt am Main in March 2020.
The German economy was shaken considerably between 2020 and 2021, but not completely broken. Surprisingly, despite a 4,9% decline in overall GDP in 2020 and a sharp rise in food prices, many companies in the industrial group remained profitable.
For example, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, having lost 28,26% compared to the previous year, 2019, received a net profit of 3,63 billion euros at the end of 2020.
And already in 2021, the entire German economy demonstrated confident growth – more than 2,5%.
That is, the German state machine, despite all the “bullying” of the service personnel, called members of the government, continued to function confidently and reliably.
Then came February 2022. The Cold War, sanctions, the flight of German companies from Russia and their loss of the Russian market, blown-up gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, a surge in energy prices, and so on.
The country held its breath. Still reeling from the pandemic and still facing unusually high costs for groceries, restaurant and cafe visits, and significantly higher vacation prices, people awaited the promised catastrophe with gas, hot water, and heating prices, as well as restrictions on the quantity and temperature of hot water in heating and hot water systems, the shutdown of air curtains at shopping mall entrances, and so on.
Surprisingly, things turned out not to be so dire. Yes, utility costs went up, but once again, the "financial fat" accumulated by the country in the post-war decades saved the citizens from the expected catastrophic negative consequences of the sanctions against
Moreover, the economy again showed growth in 2022, but only by 1,9%. Nevertheless, this allowed the Bundeswehr to begin its modernization and rearmament program through a special €100 billion package. However, 2023 and 2024 were recessionary years, with GDP falling by -0,9% and -0,5%, respectively.
As a result, the state budget no longer looked as rosy as it had a year earlier. The situation was approaching that depicted in the film "Wedding in Malinovka":
“Mr. Ataman has no gold reserves.”
But, following Popandopoulos' example, a solution was immediately found:
"I'll give you a hundred million, ... I'll draw myself another one."
In order to stubbornly continue the militarization of the country, continue the insane "green" program, and fulfill plans for further selfless support for Ukraine everywhere and in everything, in 2024 the outgoing "servant of the people" team in the Bundestag suspended the so-called constitutional financial brake (Schuldenbremse).
The fiscal brake is a legal limit on the growth of public debt, enshrined in Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz). Under this "brake," the Federal Government was only allowed to undertake new borrowing to a very limited extent: no more than 0,35% of GDP per year.
And now they've removed that brake. Now I can borrow it, I don't want to! And they explained it all very convincingly: it's absolutely necessary!
These are:
Initially, this was the financing of anti-crisis packages (COVID, energy, inflation), aimed at mitigating the impact of the very crises that they themselves created.
Then there's support for the army (a special fund for the Bundeswehr worth €100 billion), and of course, investments in the transition to "neutral" energy sources and climate projects, and, as a consequence, to prevent the people from starting to rebel, subsidies for businesses and the population in the form of compensation for increased prices for electricity, gas, and diesel fuel for heating boilers in private homes.
The abandonment of the "financial brake" was also embellished by the urgent need to expand and improve the country's infrastructure, including highways, bridges, tunnels, the railway network, etc. Surprisingly, these projects turned out to be the routes heading east—yes, yes, east.
The slogan “Drang nach Osten” that we all know was immediately in the air.
Well, if we're heading east, then how can we do without all kinds of help for Ukraine? After all, it's like a sacred cow in India, untouchable and will certainly be carried on, through the years, in the fight against Russia's terrible aggression, to the last Ukrainian, and maybe even German...
But let's return to the automotive topic of the article.
The share of the automotive industry in the overall structure of the industrial complex of Germany traditionally ranges from 19 to 21%.
For decades, the country's auto industry rested on three main "supporting structures," leading concerns:
- Volkswagen Group (VW), which includes VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, Lamborghini, etc.
- Mercedes-Benz Group AG
- BMW Group AG, including BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.
The Volkswagen concern, with a wide range of models across all end-product segments, from budget to premium vehicles, has traditionally held and continues to hold first place in the number of vehicles produced and sold, which has regularly led VW to maximum revenue and a very solid net profit for the company.
Mercedes-Benz has always been distinguished by the special luxury, elegance, innovation in safety and comfort of its products.
BMW is a company that has never needed much advertising, focusing on dynamics and, as stated in this very advertisement, offering the buyer “driving pleasure” and, of course, a design with a sporty twist.
But let's continue about Mercedes.
From 2006 to 2019, the concern was headed by Dr. (Ph.D.) Dieter Zetsche, who joined the concern as a rank-and-file engineer in 1976. He was, as they say, of the old school, born in 1953, and no longer met the demands of the 2020s.
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, a real German!
On May 22, 2019, at the Daimler annual general meeting in Berlin, Zetsche handed over his position to forty-nine-year-old Swede Ola Källenius.
Ola Källenius, born June 11, 1969 in Västervik, Sweden
Where did this guy come from?
After graduating from the Stockholm School of Economics and then the University of St. Gallen with master's degrees in International Management and Finance and Accounting, the young and promising Swede began his professional career in 1993 at what was then Daimler-Benz AG in the International Junior Research Group.
The International Junior Research Group is a management program for young talent at Daimler AG. It was created to select promising university graduates from around the world and offer them the opportunity to undertake directly relevant training within various divisions of the Group, in the areas of research and development, product manufacturing, sales and distribution, and finance.
Program participants received international internships and early access to strategic projects to prepare them as future leaders.
Ola Källenius never actually tightened any nuts, in the literal sense of the word, but over the course of the following years he held various management positions at Daimler AG.
From 2008 to 2009, he excelled as CEO of Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines Ltd in the UK. The division he headed was responsible for engines for Formula 1 (McLaren-Mercedes, later Mercedes-AMG F1).
In 2010, he returned to Germany and assumed leadership of Mercedes-AMG GmbH. Objectively speaking, Källenius achieved very good results. AMG vehicles became more profitable for Daimler AG and more affordable and accessible to consumers.
At the end of May 2019, Källenius replaced Dieter Zetsche as CEO of Daimler AG. Zetsche had initially planned to hand over the post to a German successor, but the board of directors decided to choose Ola Källenius, given his international experience and strategic vision for electric vehicles and digitalization. He was considered the right person with a global vision for the group's future strategy and development, rather than just a "conservative German" approach like Dieter Zetsche's.
Källenius became the first foreigner to head the concern in more than 100 years history Mercedes-Benz Group AG. He only received German citizenship in July 2023.
Since Ola Källenius took over as CEO in 2019, Mercedes-Benz has resolutely focused on high-margin premium models. The focus has been on the S-Class, G-Class, and the exclusive Maybach and AMG sub-brands. The compact car lineup has been reduced, and electric vehicles are expected to secure the future of Mercedes-Benz.
In 2022, Källenius announced that 75% of investments would be directed towards the Top-End Luxury and Core Luxury segments with the aim of achieving structurally higher margins.
Top-End Luxury (ultraluxe) is the top segment, the most expensive and prestigious cars, bringing in the maximum margin and symbolizing the luxury of the Mercedes brand:
- Mercedes-Maybach (S-class Maybach, Maybach GLS, etc.)
- Mercedes-AMG (high-performance versions, including GT, SL, and top-of-the-line AMG SUVs)
- G-Class (the legendary "Gelik" Geländewagen, including the electric EQG)
- Flagship S-class (in especially expensive trim levels)
- Sports and limited exclusive cars.
Core Luxury (core premium) is the basis of the premium line, the main models through the production of which Mercedes generates the bulk of its sales, combining premium and profitability:
- E-Class (sedan and station wagon, including the electric version EQE)
- GLE and GLC (the most popular SUVs in the mid- and upper-mid segments)
- EQE SUV, EQS SUV (purely electric models)
- C-class (“stuffed”, in rich trim levels).
Rђ RІRѕS, Entry Luxury (entry premium) should be gradually reduced by almost half to focus on the more profitable Core and Top-End.
The A-class, B-class, CLA, GLA, and GLB, which are very popular in Germany, were hit.
In 2022, Mercedes-Benz officially announced its intention to reduce the number of compact models from seven to four.
In the future, according to the general strategy of concentrating on luxury models, the production of these groups was supposed to be completely discontinued in 2025.
It must be acknowledged that the new strategy has produced certain positive results up to and including 2024.
From 2021 to 2024, the concern consistently sold around 2,3-2,5 million vehicles, and even in 2023 and 2024, it achieved net profits of 6,8 and 10,4 billion euros, respectively.
Let me remind you that these are the years of recession in the country, Germany’s GDP is in the negative!
But, apparently, 2025 was not looking good for the concern, to put it mildly. Everything resembled the flight of an airplane that had reached its maximum altitude, its dynamic ceiling. Maintaining this "ceiling" was impossible...
And already this year, the party line began to waver. It was decided to continue production of the B-Class until 2026, though almost immediately afterward, Mercedes-Benz announced that the line would continue to be produced, but without a direct successor.
And the A-Class was immediately "revived." Not only did they give it a mild facelift in 2022, though they claimed it was the last one. The "last" immediately became the "last"; it will now be produced until 2028.
Today, they are advertising the deeply facelifted A-Class model from 2025.
A-class, 2025
Well, how could we do without the idea of “saving the planet from global warming”.
In 2021, Ola Källenius ambitiously declared:
"By the end of the decade, the brand with the star will be ready to go fully electric and only electric – wherever market conditions allow."
Since 2021, the European Union has been developing a corresponding package of measures, and in March 2023, a final decision was made to ban the registration of new cars with internal combustion engines from January 1, 2035.
...The electric car is already the best product in terms of CO₂ emissions... It will get better and better every day,
— the head of the Mercedes-Benz concern repeated in unison with European officials. To put these cutting-edge ideas into practice, the company planned to offer customers only electric vehicles by 2030.
However, the young and ambitious Mercedes boss failed to take into account that quite often theories and plans, especially those based on political schemes, are not always feasible in a rapidly changing reality. The Germans say: "Zwischen Plan und Ausführung liegen Welten", which means: "There are worlds between a plan and its execution!"
But reality has revealed the negative impact of anti-Russian sanctions on Germany's entire industrial complex, the expansion of relatively inexpensive Chinese electric cars, the end of government subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles, the Germans' reluctance to abandon internal combustion engines, which seems inexplicable to the "innovators," Trump's 15% export tariffs, and so on.
All this led to a reduction in sales in all segments, and as a result, the profitability, which was 14% in 2022, fell to 5,1%, and the growth of sales of ultra-luxury products fell to 14%, not even maintaining the 16% level of 2021, thereby failing to reach the target of twenty.
Moreover, the development of the electric lineup has completely failed to meet expectations. The share of electric Mercedes sales has plateaued at 10% in the first half of 2025. Yet the previously stated goal was to completely transition to electric-only production, specifically within five years.
To put this into perspective, a total of 281,591 Mercedes passenger cars were sold in Germany in 2024, of which 33,991, or 12,1%, were electric.
In the first quarter of 2025, 122,447 units were sold, of which 12,628 (10,3%) were electric.
A typical example of absolute failure was the launch of the all-electric EQG SUV, a version of the legendary G-Class.
Despite the high interest in the premiere, demand was significantly lower than expected. Customers accustomed to the charisma and power of the classic Geländewagen were reluctant to switch to an electric alternative, which was expensive and had a limited range. Thus, even the flagship project, which was supposed to symbolize a successful transition to "electro-luxury," became more of a clear demonstration of one of the challenges of the strategy shift.
The cheapest Gelik G 450 d with a diesel engine and in the basic configuration costs 124,355 euros, including 19% VAT.
The new G500 with an inline six-cylinder engine costs 133,577 euros, again in the basic version.
The top-of-the-line AMG G 63 base model starts at €191,233.
And this is the AMG G 63 Grand Edition. Its 4,0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine produces 585 hp. Price: €228,896.
By the way, the waiting period after ordering is now more than twelve months!
So what is the electrified "Suitcase" like, the Mercedes-Benz G 580 (EQ or EQG)?
As they write in the advertisement, "This electrified icon combines superior off-road capability with eco-friendly efficiency and an attractive design."
Mercedes-Benz G 580 with EQ Technology. Available in Germany starting at €142,621.
Hidden beneath the familiar angular, albeit slightly smoothed and adorned with electric trinkets, body of the G-Class are four electric motors integrated with the wheels, with a total output of 579 hp and a torque of 1164 Nm.
They are powered by a 400-volt lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 116 kWh. Charging from 10 to 80% takes 32 minutes. The promised range according to the WLTP cycle is approximately 470–500 kilometers.
And here, in my opinion, the most interesting part begins.
The WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure) cycle is a unified test cycle introduced in Europe in 2017–2018.
To achieve the stated range, the air temperature in dry weather must be 23°C. No one and nothing except the driver must be in the car. The air conditioner, radio, lights, and other energy-consuming devices must be turned off. Summer tires. The average constant speed is 46,5 km/h over a distance of 23,25 km, without acceleration or braking.
Otherwise, if you allow yourself to use the car as you are used to, you will get about half of the stated range.
In the first four months of 2025, only 1450 G 580 EQs were sold worldwide. During the same period, the traditional G-Class with a gasoline or diesel engine sold around 9700 units.
A Mercedes-Benz executive described sales of the G 580 EQ as "a complete failure", stating that the machines "they stand in the parking lots like lead weights".
The example with the electric Gelik clearly mirrored the situation with the entire EQ line, whose sales began to decline sharply.
In the US, where buyers have long been accustomed to electric cars, EQB, EQE, and EQS sales in 2024 showed a significant decline compared to the previous year: EQE and EQE SUV fell by 47%, EQS by 50–57%, and so on.
And the cars are simply beautiful. Truly a joy to behold.
EQB 250. A modest car designed to replace the classic B-class
EQE 350, a representative of the Core Luxury segment
EQE 350 SUV. Beautiful, no comment!
The EQS 580, Mercedes-Benz's flagship electric model, is 5,32 meters long, has four-wheel drive, and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4,4 seconds. However, the top speed is limited to 210 km/h. The range on a full charge is 790 km (unfortunately, a lie).
The flagship's interior
EQS SUV 580. The same flagship in the form of a Sport Utility Vehicle.
Interior of the EQS SUV 580
In 2024, Mercedes-Benz sold 185,100 electric vehicles worldwide, a 23% decrease compared to 2023. The total number of Mercedes-Benz Cars sold in 2024 was approximately 1,983,400 units (passenger cars).
Ola Källenius's "global vision for the group's future strategy and development" resulted in a nearly halving of operating profit in the first half of this year, to €2,7 billion.
The Germans, unwilling to acknowledge the results of their short-sighted policy, began to look for reasons for the “failure” outside Germany’s borders:
"The Chinese market is showing signs of fatigue, geopolitical tensions, high interest rates, US tariffs, etc."
It is absolutely logical that the strategy of focusing on a premium audience oriented towards classic cars with internal combustion engines also collapsed.
Källenius himself described the situation in meteorological terms: "Rain, hail, storm and snow."
So the "chief meteorologist" from Mercedes-Benz was forced to urgently reconsider his stated position and goals.
Källenius formulated the new position as follows:
"We are ready to transition to a fully electric fleet by the end of the decade where market conditions permit. But as long as demand persists, we will continue to offer vehicles with internal combustion engines."
For now, it's clear that these "market conditions" aren't exactly permissive. Although, the Mercedes boss believes, these "market conditions" could be objectively improved by lowering electricity prices at charging stations, tax breaks, and government subsidies for the purchase of electric cars. Then the business will really take off!
But this is no longer within his competence, and whose, as I wrote about at the beginning of the article.
In the meantime, as the EU car registration ban approaches in 2035, demand for petrol and diesel cars is starting to rise again.
"This doesn't help the climate at all.", - laments Kallenius.
In his article for The Economist magazine, he warns of the so-called "Havana effect".
It's amazing how people continue to use their cars with "old" internal combustion engines longer and longer, and never wait to buy new electric or luxury cars! This phenomenon can be observed in Cuba, where numerous old cars, including Mercedes, drive around the island, even though they are technologically obsolete.
As Handelsblatt reported, the word "luxury" is gradually disappearing from Mercedes' official strategy documents. Now it's all about "something special" and about the desire "to offer the most attractive car in each segment."
In other words, the Mercedes brand should have a broader appeal and, like in the good old days, be seen as more than just a status symbol for the wealthy. Quality, comfort, and innovation should remain the key characteristics, not the exclusivity of the car's price tag.
Thus, Mercedes-Benz is returning to a more flexible course: away from the image of an elite brand, generously adorned with "aggressive green tones," and toward a more marketable positioning familiar to middle-class buyers. This means that the three-pointed star of Mercedes should once again shine for a wider audience.
CEO Ola Källenius explained that it is impossible to determine the end date for the production of combustion engine vehicles, as many factors, including the expansion of charging infrastructure, will influence the expansion of the electric vehicle fleet.
Almost immediately after taking up his duties as the CEO of the concern, Ola Källenius began to change the internal financial, economic and personnel policies of the company.
Incidentally, colleagues describe him as a manager who prioritizes rationality and analysis. Some consider him too demanding, others too rational and reasonable.
On November 14, 2019, at the Corinthia Hotel in London, he announced that he intended to cut staff costs by €1,4 billion by the end of 2022.
And there's more: by 2027, the "Next Level Performance" program is expected to achieve savings of an impressive 5 billion euros.
Half of this is to be achieved by the end of 2025, with another billion euros to be cut from budgets in 2026 and then another 1,5 billion euros in 2027.
The cost-cutting program will impact both the direct production segment and the manufacturing sector, through innovations and new technical solutions, as well as changes to sales and administrative policies. It will affect 166,000 employees worldwide, representing more than 10 percent of job cuts, or between 15,000 and 20,000.
Källenius stated that the cost structure must be optimized—whether it concerns logistics, supply chains, or administrative expenses. Salaries and bonuses for top managers will be based on the company's strategic performance, including sustainability, digitalization, and profitability.
True, the boss himself grabbed a hefty 12,74 million euros in 2023, and he didn't skimp on 12,5 million in 2024 either.
Källenius also proposes taking a number of measures aimed at reducing the number of sick days and calls for greater responsibility among Mercedes-Benz employees.
In Germany, employees continue to receive their salary for 42 days after going on sick leave. Naturally, this incurs a certain loss for the employer. Mercedes plans to implement measures and investments at its facilities to improve employee health, including ergonomic improvements, vaccinations, disease-resilient training, and more.
Well, since we are now in September 2025, we can already look at the results of the first half of the year.
A total of around 900,000 vehicles were sold, which is approximately 6% lower than in the same period in 2024.
Revenue fell by 6,8% to €66,38 billion.
Net profit decreased by 57%, amounting to 2,593 billion against 5,9 billion in the first half of 2024.
True, Mercedes once again managed to raise its overall share of electric car sales to 20,1%.
And how is the “locomotive of all Europe”, Germany, doing?
In the first quarter of 2025, Germany's GDP fell by 0,2% compared to the first quarter of 2024...
Conclusion
Of course, everyone can answer the question about the Mercedes in the title of the article for themselves, and that was not my main goal.
The automotive industry is always interesting and engaging. Fresh information is always welcome for those interested.
Beyond the Mercedes, I wanted to once again acquaint the reader with the objective situation in a country whose leader makes no secret of his hatred of Russia. I wanted to briefly show what has been happening and continues to happen in Germany in recent years.
In short, because “it is impossible to embrace the immensity”...
Objectively, Germany will plunge into recession in 2023 and 2024, turning into stagnation in 2025.
From 2022 to the first half of 2025 inclusive, there were bankruptcies in the country 66 246 enterprises. As of September 1, 2025, the unemployment rate was 6,4%, equivalent to 3,025,000 unemployed.
The following reasons are officially announced:
- Industrial decline, especially in the automotive and metallurgical industries.
- High interest rates, which made borrowing more expensive and limited investment and consumer spending.
- On September 1, the ECB's key interest rates ranged from 2 to 2,4%, which is considered high in Germany.
- A decline in demand due to economic uncertainty, which led to a decrease in consumer and investment demand.
It's all beautiful, streamlined, and politically correct. Objectively, there's no one to blame. It just sort of happened that way.
And no one wants to call things by their names. I specifically wrote this well-known expression backwards so it more accurately describes the reality of what's happening.
And the country's leader knows exactly who's to blame and what to do! Guess in one go...
Russian President Vladimir Putin "has long been testing his limits, sabotaging, spying, killing, and trying to unsettle people," Merz said during the general debate in the Bundestag. "Russia wants to destabilize our society."
"Russia is not only threatening Ukraine; Russia is threatening the entire world, the entire political order of our continent," Merz said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague.
"Russia has been conducting hybrid attacks against us for a long time," Merz said after a cabinet meeting at the Berlin Ministry of Defense. Among other things, he mentioned "massive interference" in German democracy and targeted attacks on IT security.
In this situation, it is important to "strengthen our resilience and our defense capabilities," Merz said. This includes a strong Bundeswehr for deterrence and defense, a restructured procurement system, political will for deterrence, and close coordination within NATO.
What about the economy, the welfare state, healthcare, kindergartens, schools, education, pensioners?
No, that's not important now.
In five years, Russia is bound to attack Germany, so right now we urgently need to rearm, continue to contribute to NATO, and support Ukraine with all our might.
Germany will contribute approximately 82,7 billion euros to NATO in 2025, which is approximately 2,8% of its GDP.
Germany has already provided Ukraine with aid totaling approximately €50,6 billion from February 2022 to August 2025.
By comparison, Germany's 2025 state budget is €480,6 billion, a record level of spending. The planned budget deficit is €43,8 billion.
This means that the total amount of aid to Ukraine exceeded 10% of the German annual budget and amounted to 58,7% of the annual Ukrainian budget, which is estimated at 86 billion euros by 2025.
The aid itself was used for various needs, including military, humanitarian and civil.
Pure military aid amounted to approximately 17 billion euros.
Reception and accommodation of refugees – approximately 25 billion euros.
The so-called civilian aid amounts to approximately 6,7 billion euros, including infrastructure restoration and humanitarian aid.
And support for the Ukrainian state budget itself: 1,9 billion euros.
Germany plans to continue providing military aid to Ukraine at a level of more than 8 billion euros per year until the end of 2027.
It feels like a cry can be heard from the Bundestag throughout Germany: "Eh-eh-eh, have fun, we only live once!"
And it seems that the adventurous politicians are leading the country down exactly this path, and then - "even the deluge" or nuclear ashes.
But to achieve their truly insane goals, they will continue to use for many years to come the gigantic sums of money that powerful industrial concerns like Mercedes-Benz Group AG and others like it bring into the German state treasury.
Sometimes one gets the impression that the country's reserves of strength, with its industrial and scientific-technical potential, with a people historically accustomed to discipline and work (Ordnung muss sein), are simply inexhaustible.
And today's German leaders are literally speculating on this.
Remembering history, I would like to say in the words of Julius Fučík, a Czech journalist, writer and anti-fascist, executed by the Gestapo in 1943:
People, be vigilant»!
Info materials:
Markus Jordan/Mercedes-Benz Group AG,
Manager Store,
Die Welt,
focus-economics.com,
Time and patience
Information