45% Germans for 5% of GDP on defence

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius looks out of the turret of a Leopard 2A6 during a presentation | File Photo: Federico Gambarini/dpa

Berlin: More Germans favour increasing the country’s defence spending to 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than oppose it, according to a survey published on Friday.

Some 45 percent of respondents favour that compared to 37 percent who oppose it, with 18 percent saying they don’t know, a poll from YouGov conducted for the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung showed.

The 5 percent target is supported by the majority of supporters of the German government’s coalition, formed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) who together as the CDU/CSU polled 58 percent in favour of the 5 percent target.

Those in the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior coalition partner, reached a 57 percent level while Green Party members scored 54 percent. That party was in the last government but not the current one.

However, supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the hard-left Left Party predominantly oppose such an increase in defence spending, with 54 percent (AfD) and 52 percent (Left Party) rejecting it.

The representative survey, according to YouGov, involved 2,212 eligible voters in Germany and was conducted in mid-June.

The U.S. government has repeatedly called on NATO member states to increase their defence spending, setting a target of 5 percent of GDP, which Washington itself does not currently meet.

Currently, NATO’s goal is 2 percent.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has proposed, ahead of the NATO summit, a plan that includes 3.5 percent for traditional military spending and 1.5 percent for infrastructure that can also be used for military purposes. In May, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expressed a similar view.

Germany’s current defence spending as a percentage of GDP is approximately 2.1 percent.