In a surprise move of transparency the German government has disclosed a list of all the arms exports from Germany since 2002. The socialist left party Die Linke had demanded to know what arm sales had received clearance by the governments of both the social democrat Gerhard Schröder and his successor Angela Merkel from the Christian Union (CDU). The question of arms sales has become a highly disputed topic in Germany’s political debate as the opposition is criticising that Germany is the third biggest arms exporter of the world and the fifth biggest supplier of arms to the Middle East.