NATO sees German defence spending at €90.6B

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during his speech at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. | Source: NATO

By Ciarán Sunderland, Ansgar Haase and Magdalena Tröndle, dpa

Brussels/Washington (dpa) – Germany has reported estimated defence spending of EUR 90.6 billion to NATO for the current year and would therefore clearly meet the alliance’s two percent target. Berlin committed to the goal for the first time this year.

According to a new NATO overview, the record sum corresponds to a share of the forecast German Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.12 percent. This would be higher than expected at the beginning of the year.

Overall, more than 20 NATO allies will spend 2 percent of their GDP on defence this year, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday in Washington.

The new data from NATO shows that 23 allies are expected to meet the alliance’s defence spending target, up from an earlier estimate of 18 members in February.

According to the figures, the European allies and Canada alone would even achieve an increase of 17.9 percent in defence spending.

“This is good for Europe and good for America,” Stoltenberg said in a speech in Washington, praising the increase in expenditure, “especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States.”

“Over the last two years more than two-thirds of European defence acquisitions were made with US firms. That is more than [USD 140 billion] worth of contracts with U.S. defence companies,” he said.

Since 2006, NATO members have pledged to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defence, but only a few have ever met this target – to the frustration of the U.S., the alliance’s largest member and dominant military power.

In the aftermath of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO agreed to make this 2 percent figure a minimum for defence spending.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump in particular has railed against allies that have not met the alliance’s defence spending metrics.

Trump, who is hoping to return to the White House after the November elections, said at a campaign appearance earlier this year that he would not provide any US support to NATO allies with low defence spending in the event of a Russian attack.

The leading countries expected to meet the NATO target are Poland, with defence spending equivalent to 4.12 percent of GDP, and Estonia, with 3.43 percent, coming in ahead of the US with an estimated 3.38 percent.

Countries such as Spain, Slovenia and Luxembourg are currently spending below 1.3 percent of their GDP on defence. Belgium (1.3 percent), Canada (1.37 percent), Italy (1.49 percent) and Portugal (1.55 percent) are also expected to fall well short of the NATO target.

Overall, the US is projected to spend some USD 968 billion on defence this year, which is more than double the combined spending of all the other 31 NATO members.

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg is in Washington to visit U.S. President Joe Biden and lay the groundwork for a major summit of NATO leaders in July.

In Washington, alliance leaders are expected to adopt a plan for NATO to coordinate military aid to Ukraine for the first time under a formal mission called the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).

Previously, NATO countries coordinated support to Ukraine through an informal, United States-led group called the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.