German demand for designated US President Donald Trump, NATO member states should spend five instead of two percent of their gross domestic product on defense, is met with massive resistance in Germany.
“The 32 NATO member states will have to agree on a new common minimum beyond the two percent target” said the chairman of the Defense Committee in the German Bundestag, Marcus Faber (FDP), to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. “It will be more like three than five percent.” Faber also said: “And it will be decided by consensus.”
The chair of the Defense Committee in the European Parliament, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), also rejected the demand. “We should not be swayed by every statement from Trump” she told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”. “Trump, who sees himself as a deal maker, of course also hopes that the increased financial commitment of the European partners will primarily benefit the US industry.”
Germany needs a strong army, the FDP politician said. “Two percent of the GDP is no longer enough in view of the complex threats. We are experiencing since 2014 how brutally Russia acts and does so with the support of China, North Korea and Iran, and that on European soil.” It is all the more important to build capabilities together with NATO and the European Union and to finance them accordingly. “But please do not take a random number out of thin air.”
Strack-Zimmermann acknowledged that Europe generally needs to invest more in defense capabilities. “The United States are rightly expecting that NATO member states take a much greater amount of money for their national and joint defense into their hands” she said. “This is reasonable in view of the geographical location and the economic potential and the size of Germany, after we have hidden behind the US for decades, hoping we can rely on them and they will stand for our security.”
SPD foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner told the news portal Politico that Trump’s demand is “utter nonsense”. “We don’t need more weapons in the world, but fewer” Stegner said. Furthermore, a parliamentary majority is needed for such a decision, he added. “Then one could abolish democracy as well, if one no longer needs democratic majorities for the defense budget.”
After Trump’s five percent demand, Left Party leader Sahra Wagenknecht calls for a course correction in relation to the US. “Trump’s demand for armaments in the amount of five percent is no surprise” Wagenknecht told Politico. “The transition to Trump should be the final trigger for Germany to end its vassalage to the US. We need independence rather than subordination and a significant improvement in German-French relations.”
Trump had spoken out at a press conference at his estate Mar-a-Lago in Florida, looking at the other NATO member states and added: “You can all afford it.