Confusion about US troop drawdowns affecting Germany housing deals
Joe Biden’s US presidential election victory is adding further confusion to the decision surrounding the future of several US military sites in Germany, REFIRE has learned.
President Trump’s directive to withdraw some 12,000 US troops from Germany and shuffle around numerous other units elsewhere in Europe is complicating a years-old plan, first announced by the Pentagon in 2015 to return numerous military installations to the German state as it examines whether the facilities will be needed “in response to the strategic shift in the security environment,” according to US European Command, based in Stuttgart.
At the time the Pentagon announced it planned to shut down 15 military sites in Germany and the UK, mainly smaller outposts, as part of its cost-saving measures. EUCOM launched a review of the consolidation plan in 2017, but now, three years later, that process is still ongoing. This has led to anger and frustration in several German communities which have been keen to buy the real estate.
The arrival of Joe Biden might complicate things even further, as he is known to have been critical of Trump’s plans to reduce the troops stationed in Germany, and might order a review of earlier directives.
In Ansbach, Bavaria, for example, an agreement to turn over Barton Barracks by 2021 has been indefinitely postponed. Local German government officials said they have well-progressed plans to support a ‘Bavarian digital campus’ and build affordable housing, with the mayor of Ansbach saying in a statement that acquiring the land to expand its local university represented a “special opportunity for Ansbach and the region.”
In a recent statement, EUCOM said “Considering the current European security environment, it is a prudent measure to review some of the decisions under the January 2015 European Infrastructure Consolidation effort. This review is in progress and we will provide updates to the host nation as soon as we have a decision from the Department of Defense.”