Speaking in Bielefeld on the first stop of his election tour, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his refusal to increase military spending.
The campaign is launched. 40 days before the early legislative elections, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held its first meeting on Monday in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The leader of the Social Democrats addressed the controversy surrounding a possible increase in the defense budget, raised last week by US President-elect Donald Trump.
Scholz reiterated that he would not increase spending but would respect NATO’s current target of at least 2%. Donald Trump had criticized Europe’s contributions to NATO and suggested that member states increase their defense spending to 5% their gross domestic product (GDP).
According to the Social Democrat, candidate for his own succession, these five percent would represent more than 200 billion euros per year, and he noted that the federal budget did not even reach 500 billion euros.
He added that such a goal would only be achievable with “massive tax increases or massive cuts in many sectors.”
“I guarantee you that we will continue to devote 2% of our economic production to defense”he said. “Anyone who says this is not the way to go should also say where the money will come from“he concluded.
Germany is one of the United States’ closest allies in Western Europe. After his inauguration on January 20, Trump could put pressure on Berlin economically as well as in terms of security policy. The German conservatives of the CDU/CSU, for their part, gave priority to defense spending during their electoral campaigns.
Friedrich Merzleader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), favored by polls, said last week that the country would spend more on defense, but that he would not decide on a specific spending target. “The 2, 3 or 5% are basically irrelevant, the deciding factor is that we do what is necessary to defend ourselves“, Merz told Bavaria’s public service channel Bayerischer Rundfunk.
The CDU prepares its return to power, the AfD in ambush
Olaf Scholz plans more than 30 public debates between now and February 23, election day. The meeting in Bielefeld was disrupted by two activists protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza. The two activists were promptly escorted from the room.
The Christian Democrats and their candidate Friedrich Merz lead the polls with around 30% of voting intentions. The polls then place theAfD (far right) in second position with 20%, with its leader Alice Weidelbacked by tech mogul Elon Musk.
Alice Weidel, however, has no chance of becoming the next leader of Germany, a country of coalitions, because other parties refuse to come to terms with her radical party.
The Social Democrats would at this stage only obtain between 14 and 17% voices.
Olaf Scholz leads a minority government after the collapse of his tripartite coalition, made up of the Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens.
