Germany’s military spending has doubled in a decade to meet the NATO’s “two percent goal”. The current total of over 90 billion euros, nearly a fifth of the federal budget, is no longer sufficient for the hardliners. NATO leaders and US politicians are intervening in the German election campaign, demanding more. In Brussels and Munich, the discussion is already underway, with German politicians engaging in a fierce competition to outdo each other in terms of rearmament.
Almost every fifth euro of the state budget, or nearly 20 percent, is being spent on the military and arms industry. The federal budget for 2024 is approximately 477 billion euros.
NATO and US politicians are demanding more, with the alliance’s leaders now calling for member states in Europe to increase their military spending to 3.6 percent of their GDP. This would mean that Germany would have to pump 160 billion euros into the arms and war industry, a third of the federal budget.
The new target of 3.6 percent of GDP is already being seriously discussed at the Munich Security Conference. The neoliberal logic can only see the positive in this: rearmament will boost the economic performance of NATO member states, so the claim goes. The Springer newspaper WELT even jubilated: “Megatrend rearmament – the new growth opportunity for Europe”.
The Trump administration is already playing higher, with the new US Defense Minister Peter Hegseth proposing a step-by-step plan: the countries, including Germany, should increase their military spending to three, then four and finally five percent of their GDP.
If military spending were to reach five percent of GDP, the Federal Republic would have to spend around 215 billion euros, almost half of the federal budget, without a drastic increase in the latter, which would mean a further decline and the worsening of poverty for the poor and children.
For comparison, the social benefits for the public were planned at 26.5 billion euros last year, less than a third of the current military spending. Yet, the politicians, especially the CDU, CSU, FDP and AfD, are suggesting that the German social welfare system is bursting at the seams due to the recipients of social benefits. The future CDU Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has already announced further cuts.
The SPD and the Greens had announced a child basic income in the 2021 election campaign, but it was ultimately abandoned. The original plan was to spend 7.5 billion euros on it. Not only the FDP, but also the CDU/CSU faction found it too high. After endless debates and a counter-proposal from the Union, the Ampel agreed in 2023 to initially allocate only 2.4 billion euros per year. A child basic income still does not exist.
Until five percent: German parties in the rearmament competition
The CDU and CSU are holding the line with their election program, leaving the door open for military spending above the two percent mark. Germany should spend as much as necessary. They want to modernize the troops and increase the personnel, including through compulsory military service. How much that will cost, “whether it’s 2.5 or five percent” is “secondary” explained CDU Chief Merz in January.
The SPD, too, speaks of at least two percent, just like the FDP, which will orient itself strictly “to the NATO’s guidelines.” The once-peaceful, now war-oriented Greens are demanding “significantly more than two percent” programmatically, with Party Chief Robert Habeck drumming up support for spending of 3.5 percent of GDP in January.
The AfD only explains that Germany should “spend more on the Bundeswehr over many years” and, of course, reintroduce full-scale compulsory military service. In an interview with the ZDF, Party Chief Alice Weidel emphasized that her party focuses on military capability, leaving open the possibility of the five percent goal if necessary, but also stressing that her party’s focus is on defense capability.
A little bit of peace politics
The Left Party emphasizes in its election program that it rejects compulsory military service and claims: “Peace is not created through further rearmament, but through an active security cooperation in Europe” giving no figures or percentages for military spending. Germany should enable the Bundeswehr for land defense, it says.
Similarly, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) propagates that it does not support compulsory military service, no mandatory service year, but wants to “strengthen voluntary social engagement.” The BSW wants to reduce military spending back under the two percent mark, as “more rearmament does not make the world safer.”
However, none of the major parties have a program that would have Germany leave the NATO. Only the MERA25, a small party that is not running in all federal states, a German offshoot of the European Left Party DiEM25, clearly states that Germany should leave the NATO. The perspective is a “worldwide nuclear and military disarmament” and a “block-free Europe without NATO.” Germany should lead the way in this.