Two German Eurofighter jets simulate the interception of a plane over the Baltic sea November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Sabine Siebold
Reuters: Germany could miss even reduced NATO defense spending goal: document
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has cast doubt over the government’s already watered-down pledge to NATO allies of spending 1.5 percent of economic output on defense by 2024, a Finance Ministry document obtained by Reuters showed on Monday.
Germany is under pressure from the United States and other NATO members to increase its military spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product, in line with a target agreed by NATO members in 2014 and reaffirmed in subsequent years.
Military spending remains a source of great tension within Germany’s ruling coalition, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives pushing for quicker increases in defense budgets but Scholz’s Social Democrats riding the brakes.
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WNU Editor: Why am I not surprised.
