defense
Ampel does not want to commit NATO to a two percent target
A “Tornado” fighter jet of the Bundeswehr
© Andrea Bienert/Bundeswehr/DPA
The federal government apparently does not want to commit itself to the NATO obligation to spend two percent of gross domestic product on defense every year, as the media unanimously report.
Actually, the traffic light government wanted to decide on NATO’s two percent target in the cabinet today, according to which two percent of gross domestic product should be spent on defense each year. But that is being refrained from for the time being, like the news agency Reuters and the “Southgerman newspaper” to report.
According to Reuters, a corresponding clause in the draft of the budget financing law, which the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz passed on Wednesday, was deleted at short notice, according to Reuters from government circles. This means that Germany can keep its previous commitment to achieve the target on a five-year average. An annual fulfillment of the NATO quota is therefore not binding.
Scholz had repeatedly promised a two percent target
This formulation is weaker than Scholz’s original promise in a speech on February 27, 2022, in which he announced a “turning point” three days after Russia invaded Ukraine. “From now on we will invest more than two percent of GDP in our defense every year,” Scholz said at the time.
Even after the NATO summit in Vilnius, Scholz promised to invest at least two percent of gross domestic product in defense every year from next year.
In the past, the NATO allies had sharply criticized Berlin for not spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense each year.