{"id":110599,"date":"2025-05-18T02:39:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T02:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110599\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T02:39:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T02:39:13","slug":"surprise-defense-spending-pledge-splits-german-coalition-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/110599\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise defense spending pledge splits German coalition \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One SPD MP, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of being granted anonymity, said Wadephul\u2019s announcement was \u201cnot wise,\u201d arguing that the proposed 5 percent target is \u201cnot conceptually underpinned\u201d and risks undermining the fragile consensus for higher defense spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is broad agreement \u2014 across the SPD, CDU\/CSU and the Greens \u2014 that Germany\u2019s share of GDP spent on defense must rise significantly,\u201d the MP said. \u201cBut that unity should not be jeopardized by rash announcements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the same MP, the government had previously agreed to wait until the NATO summit to name a spending target. \u201cWadephul\u2019s move was not coordinated within the government,\u201d the lawmaker added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/13043503-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6617028\"  \/>Friedrich Merz, in agreement with the SPD and other parties, has already agreed to exempt defense spending from Germany&#8217;s constitutional debt brake and launched a \u20ac500 billion modernization fund. | Hannibal Hanschke\/EFE via EPA<\/p>\n<p>But conservatives backed Wadephul, a Christian Democrat, who made the remarks Thursday morning at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, Turkey. \u201cGermany is ready to follow this target,\u201d the minister said, adding that the country is \u201cprepared to take a leading role in securing Europe\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CDU\/CSU&#8217;s Erndl stressed that while the final figure will be determined at the June summit, Wadephul\u2019s comments &#8220;reflect the consensus within both NATO and the coalition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has previously said he wants the alliance to spend 3.5 percent of GDP on defense, with another 1.5 percent on related security goals like military mobility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One SPD MP, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of being granted anonymity, said Wadephul\u2019s announcement was \u201cnot&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[473,7057,32,2000,299,805,1945,1824,2821,461,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-110599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-defense","9":"tag-defense-budgets","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-foreign-policy","14":"tag-friedrich-merz","15":"tag-germany","16":"tag-nato","17":"tag-turkey","18":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114526523469206437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}