Defense Minister Boris Pistorius of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has rejected the demand made by US President Donald Trump that NATO member states invest five percent of their economic output in defense.
“Investing five percent of our economic output would be equivalent to 42 percent of the federal budget, which is almost every second euro, 230 billion euros, that the federal government spends. We cannot shoulder or spend that” Pistorius told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
NATO member states cannot simply adopt the percentage Trump mentioned, Pistorius said, but the demand to invest more is unchallenged. “I have actively advocated for this in the past two years” he said.
Pistorius believes that the competition over higher percentages diverts attention from the real issue. “What is crucial is explaining the threat to the public and showing a way to protect ourselves as best as possible” he said, adding that “closing capability gaps and fulfilling NATO requirements” is part of this approach.
More important than a percentage, Pistorius emphasized, is fulfilling the NATO capability goals agreed upon by the alliance’s partners. “These will be decided by the NATO partners in the course of the year and then assigned in the summer” he said, adding that “Germany will have to spend more on its defense in the future, even more than the two percent of its economic output currently achieved by this government.”
Looking ahead to a possible position on a new percentage goal to be debated at the NATO summit in June in The Hague, Pistorius said, “The federal government, which will be traveling to The Hague, is not yet formed.