Germany said it would reach 5% of GDP in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for NATO members, which would increase defense spending as conservative Prime Minister Friedrich Merz vowed to turn the Defence Force into the “strongest military” in Europe.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a meeting in Antalya on Thursday that Berlin is "following" Trump, who asked NATO allies to reach 5% goals. Currently, the league's spending target is 2%.
"We believe that (the request) is a clear commitment of the United States of America to Article 5," Wadephul added.
But Wadephul also said the country's way of achieving its goal is to embrace the proposal of NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The Dutch called for NATO members to reach 3.5% of GDP on “hard military spending” by 2032, and he recommended an increase of 1.5% on “related spending” including infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Rutte believes that strengthening infrastructure needs to be part of overall safety spending and taking bridges as an example “driving our cars, but also making sure that the bridge will house tanks when necessary. All of these spending must be taken into account.”
The Rutt proposal is seen as a compromise and will give Trump a victory at the NATO leader summit in The Hague next month.
Berlin will reach its 2% target this year after relying heavily on US protections over the past 80 years.
“When it comes to core defense spending, we need to do a lot,” Rat reiterated to Antalya’s reporter, adding that Russia could rebuild its armed forces in 3-5 years.
Of NATO's 32 members, only Poland is currently close to 5% of its target, while large economies, including Italy and Spain, are below the old target. The Italian government informed NATO this week that it had reached 2%, although the expenditure included in the calculation is unclear.
All countries are working to reach 2% next month, Rutt said at a meeting on Thursday. The Baltic countries in Poland and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all promised to exceed the target of 5%.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said NATO "only its weakest connection is strong, and we don't want weak connections."
Germany has stepped up its efforts after the Christian Democrats in Meers won parliamentary elections in February.
On the day of the party's victory, Melz said that Germany needs to "achieve independence." Like many in Germany, the hostile tone of the White House has been shaken by the firm Atlanticists since Trump was elected. Melz said at the time that the Trump administration was “largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
Merz managed to change the country's constitution and then took office as prime minister to remove the borrowing cap on defense spending, vowing to invest hundreds of billions of euros in the Germans. He reached an agreement with his alliance partner, the Social Democratic Party, to establish a €50 billion fund to modernize the country's aging infrastructure.
In his first speech as federal minister on Wednesday, Melz promised “to provide all the financial resources that the German armed forces need to be traditionally Europe’s most powerful army”.
"Strength prevents aggression; weakness causes aggression," said Meles.
Other reports by Laura Pitel in Berlin and Rome