Addressing the country’s military on Bundeswehr Day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that Berlin will boost its defence spending next year in line with a gradual increase that has been taking place recently.
“It’s good that we have been increasing the Bundeswehr’s budget for years for the sake of our security and we will continue to do so next year”, she said.
The chancellor added that the budget increase will allow the military to acquire more modern equipment to be able to cope with new challenges and tasks both domestically and abroad. Merkel however didn’t specify how much the Bundeswehr’s budget will increase in 2020.
Her statement comes after heated debates on defence spending rocked the NATO alliance with US President Donald Trump specifically slamming Germany in 2018 for spending money “on Russian gas” instead of spending it on the military to protect itself from an alleged Russian threat. He renewed his criticism in 2019 stating that Germany “is not paying their fair share”.