Overview

• Thuringia’s Mario Voigt said the region’s transport, energy and digital networks are a key to Germany’s security and should shape defense-policy decisions.
• The Ost-Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz convenes Thursday at Schloss Ettersburg near Weimar, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expected.
• Saxony’s economics minister Dirk Panter urged the federal government to ensure a sufficient share of the expanded defense budget reaches the East and to prioritize future-oriented investments over only established structures.
• Proposals on the table include a fixed Ost-Quote for spending and an East Germany component in public contracting, with Saxony’s Michael Kretschmer advocating targeted support to expand defense industry capacity.
• Voigt cited multi-level threats such as attacks on energy and digital infrastructure and drone overflights, and he pressed for siting federal and dual-use research facilities in the East, pointing to strengths in robotics, optics and materials and to pressured sectors like auto suppliers.