In Focus 13, BICC researcher Jan Grebe analyzes the changes in the reporting on German arms exports foreseen in the coalition agreement and the key issue paper of the governing parties. His conclusion is critical: All changes in arms exports control will have to be judged against whether they improve transparency and political reasoning of arms exports, whether they substantiate the role of parliament and, finally, strengthen restrictive arms exports policy.

On the one hand, BICC Focus 13 shows the limits to transparency of the new procedures. On the other, it sketches a scenario of how parliamentary control could be improved—by referring to other EU countries as examples. Grebe’s recommendations consist both of a ‘flexible blueprint’ for an arms exports report and institutional approaches to enhance transparency.