Germany, reactions after Trump's request: "We are not in the bargain"

2025-01-09 08:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Germany, reactions after Trump's request: "We are not in the

Five percent of gross domestic product for defense? This request of Trump is clearly rejected by all parties in Germany.

Even without officially taking office, Donald Trump is shocking. With his call for NATO countries to spend five percent of their gross domestic product on the defense sector in the future, he has caused negative reactions in many parties in Germany.

The chairman of the Bundestag's Defense Committee, Marcus Faber (FDP), sees the demand for a five percent contribution as too high. In an interview with Germany's editorial network (RND), he said, "The 32 NATO countries will have to agree on a new common minimum beyond the two percent target." But he expects an increase of more than three percent - and this should be decided by consensus, Faber stressed.

"This is complete madness"

Meanwhile, SPD foreign affairs politician Ralf Stegner clearly rejected Trump's demands. "This is complete madness. We don't need more guns in the world, we need less," he told news portal Politico.

Even German liberal MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) considers Trump's request for a five percent target excessive. "We must not allow every statement by Trump to derail us. We are not in a bargain here," the FDP politician told the RND network. However, according to the MEP, the US rightly expects NATO members to provide more money for their country's defense - and to take responsibility for the alliance's common defense.

"Given Germany's geographic location and economic potential and size, this is right, as we have been hiding behind the US for decades in the hope that we can rely on them and that they will be responsible for our security.

Left-wing German politician and leader of the Alliance under her name, Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), called for a change in foreign policy in relation to the US. "No wonder Trump is now calling for five percent defense spending," she also told Politico magazine. Now is the time to end "vassal loyalty to the US." Germany needs "independence instead of subjugation' and 'a significant improvement in Franco-German relations'.

The debate about protection also in the framework of the election campaign

The debate over the appropriate level of the defense budget has raged, despite Trump's demands. Federal Economy Minister and Green Party front-runner for chancellor Robert Habeck accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of cutting the Bundeswehr budget during the time of the grand coalition, CDU and SPD, then under Chancellor Merkel.

"The special fund that we started to work with against big problems will no longer be available next year. So we have to do more in the coming years to protect the peace and security of this country," Habeck told the magazine. Stern. Habeck said he would finance planned massive defense spending through billions in new loans. The debt brake "shouldn't decide how safe Germany is," Habeck continued.

Defense spending by NATO countries has been a central point of contention since Trump's first term. At that time, the Republican threatened that the US would withdraw from the military alliance if the partner countries do not fulfill their obligation to invest at least two percent of GDP in defense./ DW