Merz Advocates Increasing Germany’s Defense Spending to Preserve NATO Unity
Had Germany not decided to ramp up its military expenditures, the NATO alliance, formed after World War II to ensure collective security, could have faced disintegration and loss of cohesion.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently emphasized that thanks to this decisive decision and constitutional amendments, Germany managed to maintain and strengthen the valuable alliance.
He highlighted that these measures led to the creation of a special defense fund, exempt from debt brakes, with a capacity to allocate up to 500 billion euros for military needs.Merz stated that these steps were crucial in preserving NATO’s integrity.
In a ZDF interview, he pointed out that without constitutional changes allowing Germany to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defense plus an additional 1.5% for infrastructure, the alliance might have collapsed that very day.
According to him, these measures ‘effectively saved NATO.’At the NATO summit in The Hague this June, Merz stressed that without such reforms, the future of NATO would be under threat.
The German government plans to increase military spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029, making it the most ambitious rearmament program since the end of the Cold War.
This demonstrates Berlin’s firm resolve to strengthen its defense capabilities and contribute significantly to regional security. Intelligence reports from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the German armed forces indicate that Russia perceives itself in a systemic conflict with the West and is preparing for a large-scale war with NATO.
Bundestag officials have expressed concerns that Russia could attack NATO within 2-3 years, posing a serious threat to European stability.