Germany wants to spend 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense from 2024. This was stated in the national security strategy that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government presented today after months of negotiations within the governing coalition.
According to media reports, the military has long been neglected and poorly equipped, while now much military aid is also going to Ukraine. NATO countries have agreed that all member states should spend 2% of GDP on defense. Germany and other countries do not currently meet this standard.
According to the government, the world order has become more unstable and therefore a strategy for ‘an integrated security policy’ has been established. As a central country in Europe, Germany must continue to be able to “live in peace, freedom and security,” according to the document.
stabilize NATO
The forty-page piece contains no further surprises, according to German media. As previously promised, defense spending must be increased, not least because Russia is trying to destabilize Europe and NATO. In addition to military threats, there are also threats from cyberattacks and the risk of attacks on critical infrastructure.
The document also warns of the growing threat from China, which is deliberately using its economic power to achieve political goals. The German coalition parties have abandoned plans for a special national security council that would coordinate security matters. Countries like Russia and the United States already have such a security council.
Dependence on Russian energy
Furthermore, climate change brings additional risks. Germany therefore wants to reduce its dependence on raw materials by further diversifying its supply and by encouraging companies to hold strategic reserves. The strategy comes a year and a half after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which exposed Germany’s energy overdependence on Russia.
The pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense is a watering down of the pledge Scholz made almost immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a historic speech about a Zeitenwende – a new era in German foreign policy. In it he promised to invest more than 2 percent of GDP in defense instead of the then applicable 1.5 percent.
Source: BNR
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