Germany will fail to meet a NATO guideline of spending 2% of gross domestic product on its military next year and again from 2026 onward, according to an analysis quoted in local media on Monday.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged in a speech to parliament shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February that Germany would invest “more than 2% of GDP annually” in defense, and announced the creation of a special fund worth €100 billion ($105 billion) to help achieve the goal.
However, procurement problems and entrenched bureaucracy have hampered the spending drive. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht recently revised the target to 2% of GDP “on average in the next five years,” potentially angering Germany’s allies who have long complained the government in Berlin isn’t pulling its weight militarily.
