Merz said the purpose of the bolstering the military would be to deter aggression.
“Our goal is a country, a Germany and a Europe that are together so strong that we never have to use our weapons,” the new chancellor added.
At the same time, Merz vowed that Germany — Ukraine’s second-biggest provider of military aid after the United States — would continue to back Kyiv. “There must be no doubt about where we stand,” he said. “Namely, unconditionally on the side of the Ukrainians.”
Merz also said that Germany was “very concerned about the growing closeness between Beijing and Moscow” and that Berlin would make a strong case to China to play its part in resolving the war in Ukraine.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany has drastically increased military spending, though its armed forces — known as the Bundeswehr — remain in dire need of investment after years of post-Cold War disarmament and austerity.
For Merz, following through on the promise to build Europe’s largest conventional army won’t be easy. General Carsten Breuer, Germany’s top military commander, told an audience at the German Council on Foreign Relations in April that Germany needs 100,000 additional troops “as quickly as possible.”
Yet, despite intensified recruitment efforts, troop levels have flatlined at around 182,000 as many young people in German shun military service.