As of: February 15, 2024, 11:10 a.m
By: Stefan Krieger
Comments
Press
Split
With a 100 billion euro special pot, Germany is achieving NATO's defense spending target.
At least on paper.
Brussels/Berlin – Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine appears to have achieved what Donald Trump failed to achieve during his presidency despite threats against Germany.
For the first time in three decades, Germany has reported planned “defense spending” to NATO amounting to two percent of gross domestic product.
According to information from the German Press Agency, the federal government has submitted an amount for the current year that, when converted to NATO comparative figures, corresponds to $73.41 billion.
In absolute terms, this is a record for Germany and, according to current NATO forecasts, would mean a GDP share of 2.01 percent.
100 billion euro special pot for the Bundeswehr
Germany achieved this goal with the help of a special fund for the Bundeswehr, which includes 100 billion euros and is expected to be used up by 2027.
On Wednesday (February 15), the federal government confirmed that Germany would like to achieve the goal in the following years from 2028.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit explained in Berlin that it was clear to everyone "that we have to put significantly more money into defense, into the defense budget, because the special fund will no longer flow into it - and that is the main task."
Little tricks: Boris Pistorius.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said in Brussels that budget officials are now thinking about what will happen from 2028.
This is necessary, but it is still too early to be able to give an answer.
Bundeswehr is far from “warworthy”.
Regardless of the increasing expenditure, the Bundeswehr is clearly away from the declared goal of war capability and so the two percent target alone is not an indicator.
It can take years for some ordered weapon systems to reach the troops, which at the same time have handed over equipment and ammunition to Ukraine.
One of the parameters that recently worsened was that there were only 181,500 soldiers at the turn of the year, 1,500 men and women fewer than a year earlier.
As the news channel
ntv
is now reporting, the federal government and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius have defined quite generously what contributes to Germany's defense - and is therefore included in the numbers.
This includes interest payments for federal debt as well as the special assets of the Bundeswehr or pensions for former soldiers in the GDR army NVA - and 7.5 billion euros in aid for Kiev in the Ukraine war.
This money would also contribute to achieving the quota.
Without these expenditures declared as “defense expenditure”, the sum would not add up to two percent of GDP, according to
ntv
.
My news
“If you don’t want us as Bavaria …”: Söder threatens to leave the Federal Republic of Germany – and calls for compulsory military service
Mysterious aircraft disappearance: FSB investigates Russia's aviation authorityread
“Get away, ugh!”: insulting troublemakers Ricarda Read long
“Are under pressure”: Habeck is making people sit up and take notice when it comes to electric cars
1 hour ago
When Putin is asked about the Nazi background in Baerbock's family, he hesitates - then he defends her
“Extra weapons on board”: Frigate “Hessen” on its way to the Red Sea
Inspector General Carsten Breuer also admitted in an interview with
Welt am Sonntag
that Germany will only be able to provide NATO with some of the capabilities it has promised and that it will be “honest about the matter”.
He didn't get any more specific.
However, there are doubts as to whether the army division promised to be operational by 2025 will actually be there.
During the Cold War, the quota for the Bundeswehr was over three percent
In the past, according to documents from the NATO archives, Germany last spent two percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1992.
During the Cold War years the rate was usually over three percent.
The development of defense spending by the NATO states will be discussed this Thursday at a meeting of defense ministers at the alliance headquarters in Brussels.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday in Brussels that he assumed that this year 18 of the 31 allies would achieve the NATO goal of spending two percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
That is six times as many as in 2014. At that time, only three alliance partners achieved the two percent target.
New figures for the Bundeswehr: increase of more than 20 percent
It is reported that current German defense spending has increased by more than 20 percent compared to last year, according to information from NATO circles.
In the last public report on the defense spending of the alliance states, a comparative figure of 56.64 billion dollars and a GDP ratio of 1.57 percent were given for Germany for 2023.
According to information from the
dpa
, these numbers will be corrected upwards in the next report.
The Defense Ministry says the funds will be used, among other things, to purchase new infantry fighting vehicles, frigates, submarines and state-of-the-art F-35A multi-role combat aircraft.
Trump keeps threatening
The numbers could also be important with regard to Donald Trump's potential re-candidacy in the US presidential elections in November.
The Republican made it clear during a campaign weekend that he would not provide American support to allies with inadequate defense spending in the event of an attack from Russia.
During his term in office from 2017 to 2021, Trump repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with what he considered to be insufficient defense spending by European allies and at times even flirted with the US leaving the alliance.
(skr/dpa)
Editor Stefan Krieger wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.