Germany is reportedly expected to collect less tax revenue over the next five years. The shortfall casts doubt on whether the government can meet NATO defense spending goals and avoid the ire of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Führer
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Germany will meet its pledge to boost military spending to 1.5 percent of economic output by 2025, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Monday, following reports that a budget gap could undermine that goal.
The Finance Ministry estimates that Germany would need to allocate far more money to defense spending than it already has in order to raise the defense budget to 1.5 percent of economic output by 2024, according to an ministry analysis seen by Reuters and DPA news agency.
The analysis reportedly also predicts a €25 billion ($28.6 billion) shortfall in tax revenues up until 2023 due to a slowing economy.
Germany is under pressure from the United States and other NATO allies to increase spending to 2 percent of GDP in line with an alliance agreement struck in 2014. Last year, the government promised NATO allies that it would meet 1.5 percent by 2024.
Since West Germany's accession to NATO, Berlin has supported numerous operations involving the trans-Atlantic alliance. Since 1990, Germany's Bundeswehr has been deployed on "out of area" missions as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Germany's role in NATO
West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission
In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/H. Delic
Keeping the peace in Kosovo
Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V.Xhemaj
Patrolling the Aegean Sea
In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M.Schreiber
Nearly two decades in Afghanistan
In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Germany withdrew the last of its troops in June 2021 as part of the US-led exit from Afghanistan.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Niedringhaus
German tanks in Lithuania
Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania since 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation," according to NATO.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/M. Kul
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Spending on the military has been a source of tension between Germany's ruling coalition, with Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) opposing demands from Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU/CSU) for a rapid rise in the defense budget.
Coalition agreement
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, a CDU member, said during a visit to Latvia that coalition partners had been "clear" in their commitment to boost military spending to 1.5 percent of GDP.
Budget talks had just begun and would be completed by March, she added.
Military spending rose to 1.24 percent of GDP in 2018 from 1.18 percent the year before. However, current budget plans have defense spending reaching only 1.23 by 2022.
Reaching the 1.5 percent target could prove politically difficult because it would likely require shifting money from other government programs to the military.
The German government maintains a policy known as the "schwarze Null" ("black zero"), which requires a balanced budget and no new net borrowing.
Trump's NATO debut does little to assure allies
Having shown little love for the alliance during the presidential campaign, all eyes at this week's NATO summit were on President Donald Trump. The president wasted no time before haranguing allies over defense spending.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
America first!
US President Donald Trump welcomes Montenegro to the military alliance by appearing to shove Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in order to secure a front row berth. Montenegro will formally join NATO next month, although it may already feel pressured to increase its military spending, which currently stands at 1.6 percent of GDP.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/NATO TV
Trump berates allies' spending
The president was invited to unveil NATO's new 9/11 memorial. However, instead of using his speech to play up unity, Trump scolded allies for owing "massive amounts of money" to the US and NATO. Members have set a 2 percent of GDP defense spending "guideline," although the contributions are supposed to be voluntary.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/K. Ozer
Leaders struggle to keep a straight face
Trump's 10-minute tirade on defense spending appeared to be greeted with snickering and eye-rolling. An illustration of America's new standing in the world?
Image: Reuters/J. Ernst
Slamming the brakes on German car sales
Leaked comments obtained by German media reveal that Trump told European leaders that Germany was being unfair with its trade arrangements and decried its surplus. "The Germans are bad, very bad," German weekly Der Spiegel quoted Trump as saying. "Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US. Terrible! We'll stop that."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Handshake diplomacy
Trump met with France's newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron, at the US ambassador's Brussels residence. As a life-long businessman, Trump's handshakes are seen as one of his key power moves. Palms dried and jaws clenched, Macron didn't appear prepared to grant him that victory as the leaders embarked on what's been coined "the world's longest handshake."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K.Zihnioglu
Not-so-special relationship
British Prime Minister Theresa May is reported to have voiced her anger and dismay after US officials leaked details over the identity of the Manchester suicide bomber. The leak led British authorities to halt intelligence-sharing with the US for around 24 hours. The breech also comes just weeks after Trump himself divulged secret intelligence to senior Russian emissaries.
Image: Getty Images/J.Tallis
Glaring omission
If Trump had sought to assure allies of his commitment to NATO, neglecting to affirm Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty - which stipulates that members treat an attack against one ally as an attack against all - wouldn't have helped. Perhaps surprisingly, however, the president did mention the Russian threat on NATO's eastern border.
