Germany is preparing an emergency plan to reactivate old shelters and construct new ones. Ralph Tiesler, head of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), announced over the weekend that the European power is preparing a comprehensive plan that includes a significant expansion of Germany's network of bunkers and shelters.
According to a report in The Guardian, Tiesler warned that Germany must be ready within four years for a potential military attack by Russia. He called for a national effort to locate and convert tunnels, metro stations, underground garages, parking lots, and public building basements into shelters in order to "quickly create space for one million people." He said his agency would present a detailed civil defense plan for wartime scenarios later this summer.
Tiesler estimated that at least €10 billion would be needed in the next four years to cover civil defense needs, and at least €30 billion over the next decade. He said Europe's largest economy must wake up to geopolitical realities that could lead to war within a few years, warning that Germany is currently not at all prepared for such a conflict, at least in terms of the home front.
"For a long time, we in Germany believed that war was not a scenario we needed to prepare for. That has changed. We are concerned about the risk of a major war in Europe," Tiesler told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. He added that building new shelters across the country would entail significant costs, and therefore spaces already in use and capable of being converted into shelters should be utilized to protect civilians in an emergency.
According to the report, of the approximately 2,000 bunkers and shelters operational during the Cold War, only around 580 are still functional today, and most require millions of euros in renovations. They currently offer shelter for about 480,000 people, just 0.5 percent of Germany's population. By comparison, the BBK noted that Finland has 50,000 protective rooms capable of sheltering 4.8 million people – or 85 percent of its population. The BBK plan will include a public education campaign to avoid panic, along with signage, upgraded national alarm systems, and cyberattack protection measures to counter disinformation campaigns targeting German citizens.
As part of the plan, Tiesler is calling for the establishment of a volunteer or paid civil defense service and encouraging citizens to purchase emergency kits that would ensure supplies of food and other essentials "for at least three days, though ideally for ten." The new government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz has already backed the plan and promised it would be funded, though no direct budget allocations have been made so far.
However, after Germany recently approved an increase in the national debt that includes €400 billion for defense spending in the coming years, budget constraints appear unlikely to hinder the advancement of the civil defense plan, which includes upgrading and refurbishing existing shelters and converting buildings into emergency shelters.
Germany is not alone in this European arms race amid growing concerns over a possible future Russian attack and the growing realization that Europe can no longer depend on the US to defend the continent. Over the weekend, NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels ahead of the alliance's summit scheduled for the end of this month.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that he will bring a resolution to the NATO summit calling on member states to invest 5 percent of GDP in defense, including 3.5 percent for core security expenditures and 1.5 percent for related investments in infrastructure and resilience. This represents a significant increase from the current minimum threshold of just 2 percent of GDP, a target that some member states still fail to meet. However, in light of the growing threat from Russia and increasing US pressure for European countries to shoulder more of their own defense costs, NATO members are awakening to a new reality that will require massive financial outlays.
During the meeting, NATO countries pledged €20 billion in aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, and reaffirmed that NATO will continue to rely on nuclear deterrence as a core component of its security doctrine. "Nuclear deterrence remains the cornerstone of NATO security," Rutte said. "We will ensure NATO's nuclear capabilities remain strong and effective, to preserve peace and deter any potential aggression."
