Germany reneges on pledge to meet NATO spending target: report

Germany has reportedly reneged on its pledge to meet NATO’s defense spending target. 

Citing government sources, Reuters and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that a clause pledging for Germany to spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product annually on defense was quietly removed from Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s draft of a new budget financing law. 

The clause was deleted right before the law was passed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ cabinet to Parliament. 

That means the Berlin government will continue its existing National Security Strategy of meeting the 2% target on average over a five-year period. Germany has come under fire by the U.S. and allies for years for failing to meet NATO in spending 2% of its gross domestic product each year on defense. 

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President Joe Biden chats with leaders of other alliance states on the first day of the 2023 NATO Summit on July 11, 2023, in Vilnius, Lithuania.  (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As reported by Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock has opposed entering the 2% annual standard into law, going against Germany’s Ministry of Defense. 

The move seemingly reversed what Scholz promised during a speech on February 27, 2022. 

“From now on, we will invest more than 2% of the GDP into our defense year after year,” Scholz said at the time, announcing a “Zeitenwende,” or a sea change in its security and foreign policy three days after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

President Biden was in Lithuania last month to attend an annual NATO summit, where Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda applauded a decision announced by Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, to scale up NATO presence on the eastern flank by sending 4,000 German troops to his country on a permanent basis. 

At the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg – without naming Germany directly – stated “clearly that 2 percent of GDP for defense is the minimum.” 

“The good news is that European Allies and Canada are stepping up,” Stoltenberg said in July. “This year, we have new numbers showing that they have added 8.3 percent in real terms for the defense budget. This is a record high, and that demonstrates that Allies are delivering on their commitments.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 12, 2023.  (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday that it had secured its largest-ever defense deal selling a sophisticated missile defense system to Germany for $3.5 billion after the U.S. approved the deal. Although Israel has long had close economic and military links with western European countries, the deal with Germany could draw the attention of Russia, according to the Associated Press. 

Israel has maintained working relations with Russia throughout the war in Ukraine and has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Kyiv for fear of antagonizing Moscow.

President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda welcomes Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, ahead of a social dinner on the first day of the 2023 NATO Summit, on July 11, 2023.  (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Germany will buy the advanced defense system, coined Arrow 3, which is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. Israel sought approval for the deal from the U.S. State Department, because the system was jointly developed by the two countries. Israeli defense officials said the system would extend Germany’s defense capability while strengthening the U.S.-Israeli defense relationship. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “historic.” 

“Seventy-five years ago, the Jewish people were ground to dust on the soil of Nazi Germany,” Netanyahu said. “Seventy-five years later, the Jewish state gives Germany — a different Germany — the tools to defend itself.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.