The head of German diplomacy agrees that the country should allocate up to 5% of GDP to defence. The German press comments.
Germany supports U.S. president Donald Trump's request that NATO states importantly increase defence spending to 5 percent of their GDP. Germany agrees with Trump's assessment that this is necessary, as abroad Minister Johann Wadephul said at a NATO gathering in Turkey.
Germany intends to accomplish this by utilizing a kind of bookkeeping trick proposed by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte himself. Defensive expenditure would amount to 3.5% of GDP and the remaining 1.5% would account for investment expenditure useful from defence, for example in infrastructure.
“Sueddeutsche Zeitung” says it is the right tactic. "NATO states are to pay to satisfy Trump's ego and fill US arms companies with money. If Trump doesn't feel his will is being fulfilled, he can cancel the June NATO summit. The plan to announce a possibly unrealistic 5% mark with respective accounting tricks is so correct. Everything else would be a disaster for NATO and its defence readiness towards Russia."
The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" says: "It is not yet certain whether another NATO countries will be able to meet Trump's 5% demand. Large countries in Europe are inactive struggling to scope 2 percent, which Germany has achieved only with a 'special fund' (...) It is clear to almost everyone that the defence efforts to date are not adequate to halt Putin from further aggression. The black and red coalition drew the right conclusions from this threat and granted itself an unlimited credit line for reinforcements. So there will be money for tanks, rockets and drones." However, the paper commentator points out that even in the era of artificial intelligence, the army's combat force inactive depends on the number of its soldiers. "If the Bundeswehr truly is to become the conventionally strongest army in Europe, as the Chancellor said, the mandatory military service must be reactivated as shortly as possible," we read.
The economical diary "Handelsblatt" notes: "So far Britain and France have been the leading military countries in Europe. However, both countries are seriously indebted and incapable to arm themselves. That's why it's time for Germany. Just as the United States has become 'an arsenal of democracy' during planet War II, so now Germany must become 'an arsenal of united Europe'. The money that will flow into arms and infrastructure projects in the coming years is not lost. If they are wisely invested, they will make growth, advance the improvement of fresh technologies and give emergence to ambitious start-ups. Thus, the German economy can appear from stagnation."
German regional newspapers besides comment on the issue. Maerkische Oderzeitung says: "The announcement of abroad Minister Johann Wadephula fits perfectly into the plan of Chancellor Friedrich Merz to make the Bundeswehr the strongest army in Europe. The signal sent by 2 CDU politicians is clear: with the fresh government Germany is simply a leader in NATO in terms of strengthening its defence capabilities.
However, EUR 225 billion a year is rather a feat. There will most likely be disputes about this, specified as the SPD coalition partner. possibly the Natovian thought of integrating defence-related infrastructure into the spending bill will calm 1 or the another opponent of arms. Who would object to renovating bridges on which tanks could rotation over in the event of a crisis?"
(FAZ,SZ,DPA/senior) Wojciech Szymanski
