Germany's finance minister on Tuesday vowed to lift the country's defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product in 2029 as he presented the new government's spending plans.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition pushed plans through parliament to enable higher defense spending by loosening strict rules on incurring debt even before it took office last month. It acted ahead of the NATO summit starting Tuesday that aims to raise allies' defense spending target from 2% of GDP to 3.5%, plus another 1.5% for potentially defense-related infrastructure.
