Germany: Won’t meet NATO condition on defense spending – ‘Plan to buy F-35 going ahead normally’

THE Germany will fail to meet NATO’s 2% defense spending target this yearadmitted the government spokesman Stephen Hebstreit, confirming a relevant assessment of the IW Economics Institute. However, the plan to purchase F-35 fighter jets is progressing normallyassured the chancellor Olaf Solz.

Mr. Hebstreit further emphasized that it remains open whether the 2% target will be met in 2023; while he assured that a “huge effort” is being made to make this possible within the current legislative period. “It’s true that we probably won’t hit the 2% target this year – there are various indicators that play a role in this – even next year is currently open,” the government spokesman said.

Earlier, the newspaper Rheinische Post had published IW Institute for Economic Research study says Germany will miss target by at least 2026, despite the 100 billion euro special fund announced in the spring by Chancellor Olaf Solz. “The 2% spending goal is a long way off and the supplies needed in the near term are not moving forward,” the Institute says. According to the federal government’s original planning, with the special fund of 100 billion, the target should be reached two years earlier than forecast, but inflation, delays in the supply of equipment and the underfunding of the armed forces from the regular budget, they make it impossible. The regular defense budget, the study points out, would have to grow by at least 5 percent each year in order to meet the 2 percent target.

THE Olaf Solz, in an interview today with the American magazine Foreign Affairs, he emphasizes that the Germany “sticks to its commitment to purchase dual-role F-35 fighter jets.” In the same spirit, as reported by APE-MPE, the representative of the Ministry of Defense Arne Kolats denied the information that there is a problem with the supply of F-35s. “The venture is clearly on the right track,” said Mr Kolats. Previously, the BILD newspaper reported on an internal government document, according to which it is not certain that Buchel Airport in Rhineland-Palatinate will become fit to receive aircraft in time, by 2026. In addition, the Ministry of Defense warns of “delays and additional cost’ in the procurement of the aircraft, due to the complex preparatory procedures required. Later today, a “crisis management” meeting on the matter is scheduled at the Ministry of Defense, with the heads of the Bundestag’s parliamentary groups.