During an emergency parliamentary session on Ukraine on Sunday, Chancellor Scholz announced an additional $113bn (£84bn) for the German army. There was an audible ripple of shock in parliament. Some MPs clapped, some booed, others looked stunned. Undeterred, Mr Scholz went on to announce drastic measures that would have been unthinkable a week ago, including a constitutional commitment to Nato’s military spending target of 2% of GDP – and he confirmed that Germany would be sending weapons direct to Ukraine. Within a few days Vladimir Putin has managed to do what Nato allies have spent years trying to achieve: a massive increase of military spending in Germany.
