Long -avoided German leaders firm military language. But Merz wants the ‘strongest’ defense of Europe

Germany must get ‘the strongest conventional army in Europe’, according to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) in a speech in the Bundestag on Wednesday. According to Merz, that is appropriate for a country with the most inhabitants and the strongest economy in Europe. His government will make ‘all financial resources’ available to boost the armed forces.

According to the ‘Global Firepower Index’ website, the United Kingdom, France and Italy currently have stronger armies in Europe than Germany. The UK and France are also core powers; He only wishes to strive to “conventional” just over – so without nuclear weapons.

Merz’s words mark his ambition to let Germany play a prominent role in Europe, as he already showed with his travels to Paris, Warsaw and Kyiv in the first week of his chancellery. Moreover, Merz ‘explicit goal is to be the’ strongest ‘a break with the always cautious language of his predecessors, and their fear of making Germany look frightening.

Lesser

Merz is less shy in that regard. “Strength scare aggressors, weakness invites aggressors,” said the Chancellor in the Bundestag. His Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul (CDU), underlined Merz’s message again at a NATO meeting in Turkey, where Wadephul promised German support for a directive to issue 5 percent of GDP on defense.

At present, the NATO standard is that Member States spend at least 2 percent of GDP; Germany did not make it for years. The US President Donald Trump previously demanded an increase in the standard to 5 percent. Wadephul committed himself that Trump desired by Trump after a conversation with the American Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. For Germany, 5 percent of GDP would mean more than 2 billion euros in defense spending per year.

Wadephuls commitment must pave the road for the NATO summit that will be held in The Hague at the end of June. President Trump has previously indicated that he may not even come if no agreement is reached about that 5 percent. At the same time, Wadephul immediately pointed to a back door for Trumps requirement: of the 5 percent for the Ministry of Defense, around 1.5 percent will be invested in roads and bridges, which must also be able to wear tanks and other equipment – but from which citizens with lighter vehicles also benefit.

Change of debts

In a sense, Wadephul has easy talking, because a change in the German debt rules is no longer restricted by the annual budget. The main obstacles to become the “strongest army” are the lack of manpower and a shortage of capacity of the arms industry. According to experts, around 460,000 soldiers are needed for a decisive German army; Now there are around 180,000. For the time being, a voluntary service year must boost that number.

In his speech on Wednesday, Merz emphasized that in Ukraine the “European democratic order” is at stake, and that Germany continues to support Ukraine together with his European neighbors. Whether the Merz government also delivers the long-range rocket Taurus desired by Ukraine remains unclear. The new government wants to communicate less explicitly what it delivers to equipment to Ukraine; Under the government of Olaf Scholz, an online list could be consulted with precise numbers, calibers and models. Spokespersons of Merz and Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (SPD) kept themselves on the plain about the Taurus.

Within the SPD there is still great resistance to the deliveries of Taurus to Ukraine; SPD party chairman Matthias Miersch is fiercely opposed. Among the Social Democrats, there is always the call for German diplomatic efforts to end the war. Last week it came out that SPD-Bundestag member Ralf Stegner traveled to Baku in April, where he met a Russian delegation with a number of other politicians from SPD and CDU with, among others, former prime minister Viktor Zoebkov. The journey Stegner came up with a lot of criticism, but there were also prominent SPD people who welcomed Stegners peace mission.

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