“Just the starting point”: Pistorius: Two percent target may not be enough

“Just the starting point”
Pistorius: Two percent target may not be enough

February 17, 2024, 6:18 p.m

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This year, thanks to the special fund, Germany will reach NATO’s two percent target for the first time in three decades. At the security conference in Munich, Defense Minister Pistorius explains: The agreement can only be the beginning.

Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expects an even higher need for defense spending in the coming years than the two percent of gross domestic product decided by the NATO member states. He was “realistic enough to recognize that this may not be enough in the coming years,” Pistorius said at the Munich Security Conference. It’s less about numbers than about having “enough money” available.

The two percent target was confirmed at a NATO summit in 2014. Germany will achieve this goal for the first time since then this year, thanks to the special fund passed as a result of the war in Ukraine. Pistorius said that the two percent was only the lower limit for the decision.

“Everyone is now aware that this can only be the starting point because we need more.” Two percent “can only be the beginning.” Maybe “three or three and a half percent” would be achieved in the future, but it depends on what happens in the world and on your own economy. Pistorius spoke in English in Munich.

Financing completely unclear

Pistorius admits that the future financing of the defense budget is completely unclear. “I don’t know where we’ll find the money, but we need it,” says Pistorius, especially with a view to the time when the special funds for the Bundeswehr are used up. He emphasizes that money is also needed for education and infrastructure, for example. “But without security in peace everything is nothing.”

Last week, Germany reported to NATO planned defense spending of two percent of gross domestic product for the first time in three decades. The federal government transmitted an amount for the current year that, when converted into comparative figures from the defense alliance, corresponds to a sum of 73.41 billion dollars. In absolute terms, this is a record value for Germany and, according to the current NATO forecast, would mean a GDP ratio of 2.01 percent.

Germany has reached the target with the help of the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr, which is expected to be exhausted by 2027. The federal government confirmed on Wednesday that Germany wanted to meet the target in the following years from 2028 onwards.