235
Photo: picture alliance/Chris Emil Jan?en
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
US President-elect Donald Trump is demanding an increase in defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) among NATO member countries.
Germany has said it does not have the money in its budget to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, as US President-elect Donald Trump is demanding from NATO countries. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this on Monday, January 13, during an election campaign in Bielefeld, Ukrinform agency reports.
He explained that 5% of GDP is over 200 billion euros per year, and the federal budget does not even reach 500 billion euros.
"This can only be achieved by significantly increasing taxes or significantly cutting many things that are important to us," Scholz stated.
He emphasized that Berlin could continue to spend 2% of GDP on defense, as it does now.
"Anyone who criticizes such a decision should say where the money will come from," Scholz emphasized.
The situation was also commented on by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius at a briefing after a meeting of the heads of defense agencies of Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In particular, he noted that the conditions proposed by Trump mean that Germany must spend more than 40% of its entire budget on defense, while during the Cold War, Germany spent from 3 to 4,5% of its GDP on defense.
