Boris Pistorius emphasizes the need for effective NATO goals instead of fixing to the percentage of GDP.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spoke against the calls on Thursday to give NATO Member States at least five percent of his GDP to defend. He responded to the statements of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, who had previously expressed his support to this request of US President Donald Trump. According to Pistorius, there is likely to talk about an increase in expenditure to three percent GDP or more at the Alliance negotiations. According to the DPA report, TASR reports this.
The Allies in the North Atlantic Alliance committed themselves to allocate two percent of their GDP in 2014. However, Trump now urges Member States to contribute up to five percent of GDP. Of all the members of the Alliance, Poland is the closest to this goal, which wants to put 4.7 percent of GDP this year in its defense.
Trump’s proposals of expenditure
Wadephul on Thursday at an informal meeting of Foreign Ministers of NATO countries in Antalya Trump’s Turkish, he supported the public proposal. In his words, he agreed with the head of American diplomacy Marc Rubi.
At the same time, the head of German diplomacy showed that investments in defense of three and a half percent of GDP would be sufficient, provided that another percentage and a half would be spent on military infrastructure. This approach was recently introduced by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Pistorius criticizes the share of GDP
Pistorius does not consider the percentage of GDP for defense expenditure too important. “It is important that NATO’s capabilities, which are then determined, are fulfilled quickly, comprehensively and on time,” he said. Later, according to DPA, he also expressed his disagreement with his colleague’s statements.
“I am pleased with the very, very good start I had and I have with my colleague, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wadephul. At the same time, he knows as well as I do that the defense budget is set in section 14, which is my resort,” added Pistorius.
