Reuters: Germany refused to legislate defense spending under NATO agreements

The German government refused to legislate the obligation to spend 2% of GDP on defense within the framework of NATO agreements.

This was reported to Reuters by a source in the German government.

According to him, the clause on obligations regarding minimum defense spending was removed from the budget bill approved by the German government.

However, removing the rule from the draft law does not mean that Germany will not be able to keep its current promise to bring defense spending to 2% of GDP.

NATO allies have previously criticized Berlin for spending less than 2% of GDP on defense. In February 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that Germany would annually spend no less on defense.

• In June, Germany adopted the National Security Strategy for the first time. In it, Russia was called the biggest threat to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic region in the near future, and also confirmed the goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense.
• At the Vilnius summit in July, NATO countries pledged to spend at least 2% of their GDP annually on defense.