BERLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Christian Lindner considers the budget demands made by his government coalition partners to be excessive and "simply unrealistic", he told Reuters in a TV interview on Monday.
Lindner said the requested additional spending amounted to about 70 billion euros ($70.78 billion) compared with earlier plans.
According to the finance minister, the demands head into the range of 100 billion euros more per year for the years 2025 and onward.
The new Defence Minister Boris Pistorius wants 10 additional billion euros for the defence budget next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
"However, what is clear is that 10 billion euros more in 2024 than now is an unrealistic figure," he said.