- Title: Germany's DefMin Pistorius: Germany hits 2% NATO spending target
- Date: 14th February 2024
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 14, 2024) (REUTERS) GERMAN DEFENCE MINISTER BORIS PISTORIUS ARRIVING FOR MEETING WITH NATO AND UKRAINE ALLIES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN DEFENCE MINISTER, BORIS PISTORIUS, SAYING: "I say it with a little smile, please don't take it completely seriously: The people of Lower Saxony, I am a Lower Saxon, we have a nice saying: a good horse doesn't
- Embargoed: 28th February 2024 13:52
- Keywords: USA air defence defence nato nato alliance target nuclear debate protective shield spending ukraine
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA001033714022024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Germany has met a NATO alliance target to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on defence for the first time since the early 1990s, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday (February 14), as spending ramped up after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The German government is allocating the equivalent of 71.8 billion euros ($76.8 billion) for defence spending in the current year through regular and special budget outlays. However, the sum of its total defence spending is classified.
NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that 18 countries were expected to meet the 2% target. NATO defence ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday. A separate meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, hosted by the United States, took place on Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on the weekend outraged allies by saying he would refuse to protect NATO members who did not spend enough on defence.
Reacting to those remarks, Pistorius said he didn't believe in heated debates at the wrong time. Germany should do its homework rather than look at the American election campaign.
Pistorius also pushed back against the idea, which gained attention after Trump's remarks, of creating a separate European nuclear defence umbrella.
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