Newly elected US President Donald Trump has requested an increase in defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Alliance member countries.
Germany says it does not have the money in its budget to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, as US President-elect Donald Trump has demanded from NATO countries. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this on Monday, January 13, during the election campaign in Bielefeld, Ukrinform agency wrote.
He explained that 5% of GDP is more than 200 billion euros a year, and the federal budget does not even reach 500 billion euros.
“This can only be achieved through significant tax increases or significant cuts in many things that are important to us,” Scholz said.
He emphasized that Berlin could continue to spend 2% of GDP on defense, as it does now.
“Everyone who criticizes this decision must say where the money will come from,” Scholz emphasized.
The situation was also commented on by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in a briefing after a meeting of the heads of the defense departments of Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and Great Britain. In particular, he noted that the conditions proposed by Trump mean that Germany must spend more than 40% of its total budget on defense, while during the Cold War, Germany spent 3 to 4.5% of GDP its in defense.
Recall that this year 23 of the 31 NATO countries will spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
NATO plans to increase defense spending by 3%
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.