European People’s Party (EVP) leader Manfred Weber demands an increase in German defense spending.
“‘330 million Americans will not permanently defend 440 million Europeans,’ said the CSU politician to the Funke Media Group newspapers. ‘We need a joint procurement to buy cheaper weapons, we need a European rocket shield, a cyber defense brigade, and we must jointly secure the eastern border.’ Two percent of the economic output for defense investments is ‘an absolute minimum,’ he said. Germany and Europe are ‘in Putin’s crosshairs.’
Weber, however, does not fear the US under President Donald Trump might leave NATO. ‘Even the first Trump administration showed: the US commits to NATO,’ he said. ‘Don’t let AfD or Sahra Wagenknecht get ahead of themselves.’
Weber also demands an increase in military support for Ukraine. Germany currently only allocates around 0.64 percent of its gross domestic product for Ukraine aid. ‘The question is not whether we as Europe can financially withstand the war in Ukraine, the EU will always have the financial and economic power to do so,’ he said. ‘Rather, it’s about how a sustainable peace and security order in Europe can be achieved in the medium and long term.’ Weber called for not proposing a short-term deal to war criminal Putin, but rather setting ‘clear boundaries’ for him.’