Germany hits 2% NATO target for first time since 1992, reports dpa

As expenditure increased following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Germany has met a NATO alliance aim to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on defence for the first time since 1992, according to a dpa news agency report on Wednesday.

According to dpa, the German government is spending the equivalent of $73.41 billion on defence this year. In absolute terms, this represents a record amount for Germany and represents 2.01% of GDP.

A request for comment was not immediately answered by the ministry of defence. Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of Germany, said last week that his country will achieve the NATO objective; however, the administration has yet to release exact numbers.

On Thursday, NATO military ministers are scheduled to convene in Brussels. On Wednesday, the Ukraine Defence Contact Group will hold a separate meeting, which is being sponsored by the US.

At a time when the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is facing uncertainty, Scholz’s administration has drawn attention to its growing security spending.

Donald Trump, the former US president, infuriated friends over the weekend by threatening to withhold support from NATO nations that did not increase their defence spending.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius responded to those comments in an interview on WELT TV on Tuesday night, claiming that Trump “ultimately saw off the branch on which America is sitting” and ran the danger of deteriorating transatlantic relations.

Pistorius pushed back at opposition suggestions that Germany should increase its special military defence fund to 300 billion euros ($320 billion) from 100 billion, saying the government should increase its regular budgetary outlay instead.

That would help the government in procurement over longer time horizons, he said. “You can actually only do this in a serious, long-term manner with an increased individual plan,” he said.

Pistorius also pushed back against the idea, which gained attention after Trump’s remarks, of creating a separate European nuclear defence umbrella.

“I can only warn against starting such a discussion with such carelessness just because Donald Trump, who is not even a presidential candidate, makes such statements,” he said.

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