NATO cheers: Germany pulls for defense

- Germany pulls out extra billions for defense. The move was warmly welcomed by NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg on Thursday at a meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense.

Germany promises to spend 1.5 percent of its economic size on the armed forces from 2025 onwards. That is still far from the target of 2 percent that NATO countries meet at a summit in 2014. Especially the Americans make a big point of lagging defense budgets in many European countries and also Canada.

Germany comes from far. For a long time the country fluctuated around 1.2 percent, and next year it will spend 1.3 percent. In absolute numbers, it means that next year, three billion euros will be added to a total of 41.5 billion euros.

The hope is that by now promising a further increase to 1.5 percent the Americans will be favored. Germany recently received information from the then-new Minister of Foreign Affairs Pompeo for renouncing defense.

In just over a month, the leaders of 29 NATO countries will come to Brussels for a summit and Trump will certainly make a point of the money. In any case, the Republican has anticipated Germany because of the trade balance that has spread out in the US. His relationship with Chancellor Merkel is utterly stiff.

Now that Germany is cautiously spending more money, the Netherlands will sink a little further into the NATO lists. The Netherlands is hovering around 1.3, but this percentage will fall some way back because the economy is growing rapidly and defense spending is not increasing as much.

According to Minister Bijleveld (Defense), there is on top of the 5 billion euros that already comes in this cabinet period, nothing extra in the offing. 'This is what we have to do with it. 'It's too little for the Americans, she realizes. 'They think that we need to take extra concrete steps. '

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