Germany’s defence minister urged the country to keep increasing military spending well beyond the NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product (GPD) in remarks on Monday.
Last year, Germany hit the 2% mark for the first time since the Cold War, but Boris Pistorius said that dramatically more investment is needed to make the German armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, capable of countering the threats now facing Europe.
“Increasing the war capability of the Bundeswehr in the coming years, and as quickly as possible, is the top priority of the hour,” Pistorius said in the central German city of Kassel, where he handed over the first of dozens of advanced new German-built wheeled howitzers to Ukraine.
“We will continue on this path in 2025. And we know that in the following years, we will have to invest even more in our security,” he said. “Two percent can only be the beginning. It will have to be significantly more if we want to continue at the pace and to the extent that we have to.”
