Germany must significantly ramp up its defence spending, a senior NATO general said on Friday.
Against the backdrop of the heightened Russian threat to European security, German NATO General Christian Badia recommended as much as a 50% boost to the country’s current defence budget.
Christian Badia told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that spending must rise towards 3% of its gross domestic product (GDP), well above the NATO guideline of 2%.
He argued: “2% is not enough for Germany. The direction must be 3%.”
Badia, a commander in Germany’s air force, is also responsible for the continuing development and adaptation of the NATO military alliance.
However, his demand could prove difficult to achieve.
Germany is currently scrambling to meet the 2% target with the help of a special €100 billion ($109 billion) fund for the Bundeswehr – the country’s armed forces – announced in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Spending 3% of economic output on defence would require a €40 billion boost for the Bundeswehr, an enormous figure given Germany’s recent economic struggles.
In Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s latest budget proposal, ordinary spending on defence rose by only €1.3 billion to a total of €53.25 billion.
Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper had previously reported on NATO plans to boost numbers of combat troops in response to the Russian threat.
According to the report, the Ministry of Defence in Berlin assumes on the basis of NATO’s Minimum Capability Requirements (MCR) that five to six additional brigades will have to be added to the ten combat brigades already committed to the German land forces from 2031.
The total number of combat brigades in the alliance should therefore increase from 82 to 131. A German brigade typically consists of around 5,000 men and women.
According to Welt am Sonntag, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence spoke of ongoing planning, under which NATO adapts to a changing situation every four years.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has repeatedly called for a significant boost to defence spending and has also made it clear that more soldiers are needed for defence capability.
Pistorius is currently having details of a new model for compulsory military service worked out.
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Federal Republic of Germany began conscription for male citizens in 1956. It was discontinued in 2011.
