Source: FT
By Guy Chazan
Germany’s defence ministry has said a planned increase in spending on the military was not enough and warned it might have to axe an international arms project.
The ministry said the proposed €2.5bn rise in 2019 was “insufficient” considering the “massive” need to modernise the Bundeswehr. It said that if it failed to secure a bigger increase in budget negotiations it would have to “adjust [its] modernisation plan” accordingly — meaning scrapping at least “one big international arms project” in 2019, “as painful as that might be”.
The warning follows US president Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of Germany for not contributing enough to its own defence. He has said Berlin is freeriding on Washington’s military budget and the security umbrella it provides for its Nato allies.
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