Pistorius aims to increase Germany's annual defense budget to over €60 billion - Reuters

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is seeking a sharp increase in the country's annual defense budget to over 60 billion euros starting in 2025.

This is reported by UNN with reference to Reuters.

Details

In 2024, Germany's regular defense budget was 52 billion euros. It was supplemented by 20 billion euros from a special fund of 100 billion euros, created in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The fund aims to restore and improve Germany's long-neglected army, but will be completely exhausted by 2028. Pistorius wants the budget increase to take effect in 2025. The minister also wants to maintain annual spending at over 60 billion euros for the next four years, and that this will be covered by the government's medium-term spending plans.

In addition, it is reported that the Ministry of Defense is seeking a budget of about 63 billion euros for 2025. This is 10 billion euros more than the budget proposal proposed by the coalition of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz before its collapse last November.

Nevertheless, the challenge will be how this money can be spent in a timely manner

This response highlighted the problem that the defense industry often has difficulty ramping up production quickly enough to account for unplanned orders.

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In 2024, the Ministry of Defense had difficulty meeting NATO's target of 2% of military spending as a share of national production due to slow allocation of funds.

A senior government source, when asked on Wednesday about the stated target of "over 60 billion euros," was less specific, but said the figure was approximate.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense, when asked to comment on the issue, said that the budget process for 2025 has not yet been completed. She did not confirm or deny the stated target of over 60 billion euros.

Germany and other European countries are under strong pressure from the Trump administration to increase defense spending.

European NATO members also feel less able to rely on U.S. security guarantees than in the past as they confront a more aggressive Russia.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, recently approved plans for a massive increase in spending, a major turnaround for a country that has traditionally advocated strict fiscal discipline. The fiscal plan includes 500 billion euros for a special infrastructure fund, and largely excludes defense investment from domestic borrowing rules.

Addition

Boris Pistorius will retain the post of Minister of Defense in the new German government. Also, other appointments in the coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Friedrich Merz and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) became known.