GERMANY: UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond sees "huge potential to contribute more" to the collective defence within Europe and in NATO

Record ID: 858112

  • Title: GERMANY: UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond sees "huge potential to contribute more" to the collective defence within Europe and in NATO
  • Date: 3rd May 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF HAMMOND AND DE MAIZIERE RECEIVING MILITARY HONOURS
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABZU0878E1M9CSWOLCTQA978T6
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Britain urged Germany on Wednesday (May 2) to beef up its contribution to European defence and security, in line with its economic might, as the United States focuses increasingly on the Asia-Pacific region.
    British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said he did not expect Germany, Europe's largest economy, to spend more money in a time of general belt-tightening but said there was ample scope to improve the effectiveness of its forces.
    "Over the last decade or so Germany's role has changed. Germany has been taking a much greater role in international operations, a very important role in Afghanistan, a crucially important role in the Balkans. And as Germany becomes more and more used in being involved in multilateral operations overseas it will make a bigger contribution to our collective defence within Europe and our collective defence in NATO," he told reporters.
    Speaking after talks in Berlin with German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Hammond said Germany spent only a little less on defence in absolute terms than France and Britain but that the amount was much smaller in proportion to its economy.
    The United States has long complained that most European allies, including Germany, fail to spend the two percent of economic output required by NATO on defence. In Europe, only Britain, France, Greece and Albania meet the target.
    But with Germany, Britain and much of Europe focused on reducing public debt, that is unlikely to change any time soon.
    Hammond praised Germany's move to a professional army from one based on conscription and its contributions to overseas NATO missions in the Balkans and in Afghanistan where the German contingent is the third largest after U.S. and British forces.
    "Germany has always had large military forces, but has been historically reluctant to deploy them overseas. Now the posture is changing. With a smaller armed forces, more professional armed forces, with the end of conscription and a greater willingness to deploy those armed forces as part of multilateral operations, recognizing, I think, that the threat to European security no longer comes as a direct threat to the territory of our homelands, but is more often found in distant parts of the world with international terrorist organisations for example."
    Last year, however, demonstrating the limits of its new-found willingness to engage militarily, Germany upset its NATO allies by abstaining in a U.N. Security Council vote authorising military action in Libya and it stayed firmly on the sidelines during an aerial bombing campaign led by France and Britain.
    Hammond played down the Libyan issue as a "minor setback" on the path to what he saw as a more proactive and responsible Germany that has overcome its post-World War Two inhibitions about sending troops overseas.
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