DW: German government feuds over military spending increases after NATO summit
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives want more money for Germany's military. But their Social Democratic coalition partners have pushed back, warning that Germany should not cave into demands made by Donald Trump.
A feud over how quickly to increase German defense spending has erupted within Germany's coalition government, days after US President Donald Trump blasted Germany at NATO summit for failing to invest quickly enough in its military.
Germany most recently spent 1.24 percent of its GDP on defense and plans to increase the rate to 1.5 percent by 2024 as part of a broader effort to reach a NATO target of 2 percent.
But the parliamentary leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc (CDU/CSU), Volker Kauder, said the government should meet its stated target by 2021.
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WNU Editor: When German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition with the CDU/CSU were in power they paid lip service for years to meeting the needs of the military, putting it in the state that it is in today. That is why her claims that she is now being blocked by her Social Democrats (SPD) coalition partners to raise the defense budget ring hallow .... she could have done this years ago when there was no alliance with the Social Democrats.
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