However, Scholz promised that Germany would adhere to the current NATO target of spending at least 2 per cent of GDP. Germany reached that mark last year for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
“I guarantee that we will continue to spend 2 per cent of our economic output on defence,” said Scholz, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). “Anyone who says that’s not the way to go must also say where the money will come from.”
Germany’s defence spending was boosted by a €100 billion special fund created in the wake of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which put new focus on the poor state of some European militaries.
But it remains unclear how Germany will maintain that level of spending long-term, given the tight budget situation and strict rules against deficit spending anchored in the country’s constitution.
NATO set itself the 2 per cent target in 2014.
Last week, Trump demanded 5 per cent from the alliance partners. He is set to take office on January 20.
Earlier on Monday, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, a fellow member of Scholz’s SPD, said dramatically more investment is needed to make the German armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, capable of countering the threats now facing Europe.
“Increasing the war capability of the Bundeswehr in the coming years, and as quickly as possible, is the top priority of the hour,” Pistorius said in the central German city of Kassel, where he formally handed over the first of dozens of advanced new German-built wheeled howitzers to Ukraine’s ambassador.
“We will continue on this path in 2025. And we know that in the following years, we will have to invest even more in our security,” he said. “Two percent can only be the beginning. It will have to be significantly more if we want to continue at the pace and to the extent that we have to.”
Current German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is running as the Green Party’s top candidate in the upcoming national election, has also called for increasing Germany’s defence spending to around 3.5 per cent of GDP.
The opposition centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, who are leading in the polls, included a vow to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence in the party’s election manifesto.
