Central European countries are watching the situation in Ukraine with concern. Just before Christmas, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany needed to spend more money to fill holes in its defence.
“The message I want to send very clearly is that if President Putin attacks, we must be able to wage war,” he told the Funke Media Group newspaper. – It will be a defensive war, but it will be a war. If we fail to do that, we will lose in the event of an invasion, the minister said in an interview.
Germany. Boris Pistorius talks about the situation in the military: on the right track
Asked if the German military was in good shape, Pistorius said: “We are on the right track.” – Almost all of the 100 billion euros from the special fund has been used. This year alone, we launched 97 large-scale projects worth €58 billion. (…) Many people will not believe that we can achieve it so quickly, he said.
He also pointed out that “it is also true that we provided a lot of supplies to Ukraine.”
– Industry needs time to increase production capacity and produce weapons and ammunition. “Delivery times for Leopard tanks are up to two and a half years, while delivery times for frigates and submarines are six to eight years,” Pistorius pointed out.
Germany wants to prepare for possible war
– The implementation period itself clearly shows that the gap created over the past 30 years cannot be bridged in one parliamentary term. But we were able to blaze a trail and we succeeded, Boris Pistorius added.
The German defense minister was also asked whether Germany should allocate more than 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defense. “We have to be sure that we always hit 2%, because this is our obligation to NATO,” the minister replied, but how much money this actually means depends on the size of gross domestic product. He said it depends on.
– That's why I want to talk about absolute numbers. From 2028 onwards, a defense budget of at least €80 billion and probably €90 billion per year will be needed to meet the requirements arising from the deteriorating situation (…). We need to close the defense gap, the Minister concluded.
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