Germany announces increase in military spending

Cargo Airbus A400M troop carrier of the Bundeswehr on the tarmac at Wunstorf airport in northern Germany, June 2021. AFP - HAUKE-CHRISTIAN DITTRICH

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Germany will increase its defense spending to reach more than 2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year, more than what NATO is asking for, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced to MPs on Sunday. 

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Germany announced this Sunday a sharp increase in its military spending in the years to come and the immediate release of an envelope of 100 billion euros to modernize its under-equipped army.

" 

", declared Chancellor Olaf Scholtz before the Chamber of Deputies, during an exceptional session.

This announcement goes beyond the objective that NATO countries have set themselves, namely aiming for 2% of national GDP.

This is a major reversal for Germany, which in recent years has been dragging its feet to comply with the commitments of the Atlantic Alliance in this area.

As of this year, the government intends to release an “ 

” envelope of 100 billion euros to help with the investments which the Bundeswehr badly needs, pleaded the Chancellor. 

Germany could buy US F-35 fighter jets, built by Lockheed Martin to replace its aging Tornado fleet, Olaf Scholz has said.

But the next generation of fighter jets and tanks will have to be made in Europe with Berlin's European partners, France in particular, he added.

Olaf Scholz also felt that his country should act quickly to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.

The country is however the fourth largest arms exporter in the world and the year 2021 had been exceptional in terms of contracts signed.

►

: in Germany, Scholz caught up by the last arms contracts of the Merkel era

Germany, since the end of the Cold War, has significantly reduced the size of its army, from around 500,000 people when the country was reunified in 1990 to just 200,000 today.

In addition, military officials regularly complain of breakdowns in their fighter planes, warships or tanks. 

The invasion of Ukraine acted as an electric shock: the head of the Army himself, following the outbreak of war in Ukraine by Moscow, admitted that the Bundeswehr was “naked”.

with agencies

German soldiers returning from Tashkent in Uzbekistan, after their evacuation from Afghanistan, August 2021. © AP Photo/Martin Meissner

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