Germany on Thursday opposed U.S President-elect Donald Trump’s proposition for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members to increase their defence spending to five percent of their total GDP.
Trump, in a press conference on Tuesday, called on NATO member states to raise their spending arguing that they rely too heavily on U.S military support.
“That’s a substantial amount of money,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded in an interview with Focus Online.
Scholz stated the need to stick to NATO’s current agreement which sets a target of two percent for defence spending among its members.
Scholz said five percent of Germany’s GDP would amount to approximately €200bn ($206bn) annually given Germany’s current federal budget of €490b.
According to him, Germany would require getting an additional €150bn yearly to meet up.
“For this reason, I believe it’s better to stick to the path NATO has already agreed upon,” Scholz said.
While Scholz acknowledged that Germany needs to contribute more to security, he pointed out that Berlin has significantly increased its defence spending in recent years, nearly doubling it to €80bn annually.
Additionally, following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Scholz announced a one-time €100bn fund to modernize Germany’s military.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius echoed Scholz’s concerns during a meeting on Ukraine at the Ramstein air base in southern Germany.
According to Pistorius, allocating five percent of GDP to defence would be unsustainable, as it would represent about 40 percent of its federal budget.
“I don’t see how any country could afford that,” Pistorius remarked, adding that NATO’s focus should be on achieving its capability goals rather than rigidly adhering to spending percentages.
