US EditionBerlin urges Paris to boost defense spending by cutting other costs
Germany urges France to meet NATO's 5% GDP defence spending target by 2035 despite Paris facing fiscal constraints and potential welfare cuts, Wadephul said.
- On February 16, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticised France for insufficient defence spending, urging Paris to turn European sovereignty calls into concrete capabilities at the Munich Security Conference.
- France's high debt and budget pressures mean Macron's plan for a €36bn defence boost by 2030 may require difficult domestic decisions, Wadephul said.
- Berlin has already exempted defence spending from debt limits and budgets foresee more than 500 billion for defence between 2025 and 2029, while NATO member states pledged 5% of GDP by 2035 but progress has lagged.
42 Articles
42 Articles
Germany's public criticism of Macron is more than a diplomatic slip. There is much more trouble behind the dispute over defence spending.
Germany says France lagging behind on defense spending
Two European powers pushed for an acceleration in military spending, as US isolationism and Russian aggression piled pressure on the continent. NATO members pledged last June to dedicate 5% of GDP to defense-related spending but Germany, which greenlit a huge debt-fuelled expansion of its military outlay, said France was lagging behind on its commitments. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, meanwhile, said the UK also had to “go faster” to meet…
The German minister's slap at the Elysée: "Before speaking of autonomy, do the tasks.""We are able to defend ourselves only with the United States, not alone: the words of the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, in times when the power of reason had the prevalence over propaganda fantasies would be even trivial, and instead they make news.
In Germany's view, France's defence spending efforts are insufficient, and it has therefore called on the country to invest more in defence and less in social affairs. Nicolas Doze tells us more. (International).
France urgently needs to increase defense spending to make European self-sufficiency a reality, even if it comes at the expense of other spending, such as social spending, said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
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