Germany cannot afford to spend 5% of GDP on defence, as demanded by US President Donald Trump. Boris Pistorius, head of the German Defence Ministry, said in an interview with Tagesspiegel newspaper.
‘5% of our GDP would correspond to 42% of the federal budget – that’s almost every other euro the government spends, €230bn. We can’t afford it and we can’t spend that much,’ Pistorius said.
However, he said Germany would have to make a contribution commensurate with its scale.
‘And this is what we will have to do in the next ten years. One thing is clear: in the future, Germany will have to spend more on defence, even more than the 2% of GDP that this government currently allocates,’ the defence minister said.
NATO countries cannot accept the bar specified by Trump ‘unilaterally without discussion.’ However, the requirement to invest more funds is also undeniable, Pistorius emphasised.
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