Be it as it may, things cannot go on like this

Open declaration for peace – Stop spending billions on armaments, war, and military aid. For fair politics – for our homeland

cc. At the end of July, the mayor of Hiddensee, an island in the Baltic Sea belonging to the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, addressed the German Chancellor and the members of the German Bundestag with an open statement on his Facebook page. Since 26 July, anyone can sign this open statement as a petition. The petition can be found at: https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/offener-brief-gemeinsam-fuer-frieden-und-unsere-heimat.

Dear Chancellor Merz,
Dear Members of Parliament

While you and many members of parliament count on tanks and missiles, we in cities and communities count every euro twice. While you pump billions upon billions into armaments, rearmament, and foreign missions, we are fighting locally for the survival of our social and communal infrastructure – for our homeland and our prosperity.
  We on Hiddensee want to build apartments, renovate and digitise our school, and finally build our own school sports hall. Our ports need new piers, and urgent investment is needed in flood protection. The same applies to our fire departments and infrastructure for the people on the islands and visitors. But, they say, there is no money for that. No “special funds,” no “change of times,” no “alliance for our homeland”. Instead: budget freezes, bureaucracy, cutback plans, and inspection orders.
  Now, an “investment summit” is being celebrated with great fanfare in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – 1.92 billion euros from a special fund for the entire state. Sounds like a lot, but in reality, the sum is spread over ten years – that is, around 192 million euros annually for the entire state.
  But how much of this actually reaches the local authorities? Who decides which projects receive funding – and which ones miss out? And how are over 700 towns and municipalities in the state supposed to benefit significantly when millions in investment are needed for schools, housing and coastal protection on Hiddensee alone?
  What we lack are not the headlines with billions of dollars – but reliable funding allocations, planning security, and fair participation also for small municipalities.
  The situation becomes particularly absurd when compared to other expenditures:
  While 1.92 billion euros has been made available to all municipalities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for a period of 10 years, the federal government is providing around 7 billion euros for arms deliveries and military support to Ukraine in 2025 alone – more every year, without any public debate on priorities.
  In addition, there is around 100 billion euros in special funds for the Bundeswehr and more than 70 billion euros in defence spending annually – going up constantly.
  And NATO’s target of 2 per cent of GDP will soon mean over 100 billion euros per year for Germany – permanently.
  In a few years, Germany will spend more on the military than on education, health, and housing altogether.
  And who will pay for this? Not Rheinmetall. Not Lockheed Martin. Not General Dynamics. Not the US, which recently promised and delivered Patriot missiles.
  But we – the citizens.
  We, the local authorities, municipalities and cities, are seeing how the welfare state – and with it our homeland – is being slowly bleeding dry. While billions are being made available for fighter jets, Leopard tanks, and missiles, we lack the money for schools, teaching positions, fire departments, health care, pensioners, housing construction, and disaster control.
  The federal government has apparently made its decision: in favour of armament, debt, and military readiness – and against social justice, against the ability to act in the municipalities, against all reason.
  It is difficult to understand how you can pretend that all this is because of “responsibility for future generations.” These generations will pay the debts – when, hopefully, tanks are no longer even being discussed.
  What is needed now is a consistent change of course in favour of local communities and our homeland:

Investments in schools, housing, hospitals, fire departments, public transportation, and care, for example, instead of military equipment.
A return to the peace imperative of the Basic Law and the prohibition of violence by the UN Charter.
And if so, then finally special funds for social cohesion, for our homeland, and for peace – not just for military adventures.

Our country does not need tank sponsorships – it needs a social dividend, an education offensive, and a real infrastructure package. And it needs the political courage to resist the arms race.
  Because peace is not won on the battlefield – but in schools, in affordable housing, in the coexistence of our communities and on the playground.
  I very much hope that many colleagues in politics – but also all those who are at home here – share the same position and join us.
  With emphasised greetings

Thomas Gens,
Mayor of the Island Hiddensee