Germany may gradually increase its defense spending to as much as 5 percent of GDP, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggested on Tuesday, marking a significant shift in Berlin’s military posture.
Speaking ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Defense, Pistorius outlined a potential trajectory in which Germany would raise its defense budget by 0.2 percentage points annually over the next five to seven years. The country currently spends just over 2 percent of its GDP on defense — the NATO minimum target.
He added that even a 3 percent budget might be insufficient for Germany to meet its full NATO capability commitments, signaling openness to even higher spending if needed.
Pistorius’s comments come on the heels of remarks by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who last week expressed support for former U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for NATO allies to boost defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made military modernization a top priority, vowing to transform the Bundeswehr into the most powerful conventional army in Europe.
