BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Wednesday said there was no need for new European Union investment programmes like the STEP fund to boost investment in critical technologies.
"I see no need for a new programme like STEP, which the European Commission president wants to launch in order to finance things that we don't know about and for which we have long had other possibilities, for example with Next Generation EU," Lindner told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
The STEP fund, proposed in June, would leverage some existing budget funds and an extra 10 billion euros ($10.54 billion) to generate 160 billion euros of investment.
While Lindner rejected additional funding for critical technologies, he reiterated that support for Ukraine must remain the exception in the EU budget.
"For the federal government as a whole, there is absolutely no question that we must continue to support Ukraine's financing needs as the European Union," Lindner said.
He noted, however, that the financing of Ukraine must be separated from the multiannual financial framework, the EU's mid-term financial plans.
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