President Trump should be treated "seriously but not literally" erstwhile he calls for 5% of GDP to be spent on defence," said Lindner to the media group Funke.
“The United States alone spends little than 3.5 percent on defence. We should wait and see what NATO will agree on,” said the FDP leader. The current NATO mark of 2% of GDP has been exceeded by Germany, but the challenge is to keep an adequate level of spending from 2028.
How much money do Germans spend on defense?
According to June estimates, Germany reached a level of 2.12% of GDP on defence, partially thanks to a peculiar fund for the Bundeswehr of EUR 100 billion. However, the peculiar fund is likely to be exhausted by 2027. The national Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) calculated that from 2028 it would request at least €85 billion per year, which is around 30 billion more than today, recalled the dpa agency.
According to its electoral programme, the Social Democratic SPD organization has committed to "sustainable defence backing of at least 2 percent of GDP". Green candidate for Chancellor Robert Habeck mentioned even 3.5 percent. According to Dpa, his party's electoral programme does not go that far, and it reads about "significantly more than 2 percent of the gross home product" on safety and defence capabilities.
CDU/CSU candidate for Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said a fewer days ago on Deutschlandfunk radio: “First of all, we must focus on achieving at least 2 percent in the next 3 to 4 years. The CSU leader Markus Soeder argued, however, that expenditure should be increased to “significantly over 3 percent”.
The right-wing populist AfD does not mention a circumstantial amount in its program, but notes that the Bundeswehr must not only be financially well equipped to re-fulfill its main mission of national and allied defence," writes dpa.
The election for the Bundestag will take place on 23 February.
