Germany Says Boosting Defense Spending, Demands Clear US Agenda

[misskit]

BERLIN —
Germany, under fire from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for not meeting NATO's defense spending goal, is boosting military budgets, but also wants Trump to map out a consistent foreign policy agenda, Defense
Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.

Trump sparked concern among NATO and EU foreign ministers on Monday when he said NATO was obsolete and criticized NATO members that failed to meet the alliance's target of spending two percent of national output on defense.

A key Trump adviser on Tuesday said only parts of NATO were obsolete, while Nikki Haley, his nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said NATO was an important alliance and she did not believe it was obsolete.

"We want the Americans to be clear, 'What is your agenda,'" von der Leyen told German broadcaster NTV. "The most important thing ... is reliability."

Von der Leyen said Germany was boosting military spending by nearly 2 billion euros in 2017 to 37 billion euros, or 1.22 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). It is due to reach 39.2 billion euros by 2020.

"We're moving in the right direction, but we can't do it in one year," she told NTV.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in November she did not expect Germany to meet its NATO defense spending target in the near future.

Von der Leyen welcomed support for NATO voiced by Trump's defense secretary nominee, James Mattis, during his Senate confirmation hearing.

"He's very reliable," she said, adding that the Trump administration still had to resolve some issues internally.

A defense ministry spokesman said the German military's spending on weapons, munitions and other equipment rose by nearly 11 percent in 2016 to 5.1 billion euros and would increase even more sharply to 6 billion euros this year.

Procurement spending would account for 16.2 percent of the overall military budget in 2017, up from 14.5 percent in 2016 and 13.5 percent in 2015, the spokesman said.

Germany Says Boosting Defense Spending, Demands Clear US Agenda

[wasabi]

Germany knows that it could one day be paying for NATO membership of countries that don't contribute enough.
Not a bad idea really as it would make the EU even cosier to Germany's increased powers through monetary control.

[buriramboy]

All these billions countries spend on 'defence' just imagine if they spent it on infrastructure projects instead how better of we'd all be with the exception of the U.S. war industry of course.

[Hugh Cow]

All these billions countries spend on 'defence' just imagine if they spent it on infrastructure projects instead how better of we'd all be with the exception of the U.S. war industry of course.

Oh if could only be so BRB. I fear our whole system has come to rely so heavily on the USA as the engine room of world growth. The USA has relied on its war industries to become the power it is since WW1. The USA is by far the largest exporter of militiary equipment in terms of dollars in the world and employs nearly 2 million Americans directly. We now rely on meaningless paper which has nothing really to back it up, only endless growth to stave off collapse. We are living in a house of cards. Hopefully we will eventual evolve a better system that causes so much economic disparity around the world and within countries themselves. Hope i haven't strayed too far off topic.

[PAG]

BERLIN —

Trump sparked concern among NATO and EU foreign ministers on Monday when he said NATO was obsolete and criticized NATO members that failed to meet the alliance's target of spending two percent of national output on defense.

Von der Leyen said Germany was boosting military spending by nearly 2 billion euros in 2017 to 37 billion euros, or 1.22 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). It is due to reach 39.2 billion euros by 2020.

"We're moving in the right direction, but we can't do it in one year," she told NTV.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in November she did not expect Germany to meet its NATO defense spending target in the near future.

If you look at the graphs in this attachment, there's little wonder that the US is pee'd off when you look at the percentage that they spend (particularly given how massive their GDP is). Germany only contributes just over half of what the NATO objective is, whilst the UK repeatedly gives it's commitment to maintain the 2% defence spend.

http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl20...pr2016-116.pdf