The co-chief of Germany's ruling Social Democrats (SPD) is sceptical about NATO's goal for each member to spend 2% of economic output on defence, according to a newspaper report, underscoring ambivalence in the country about bolstering the military.
Saskia Esken told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung she had always wondered whether this calculation was "the right way".
The SPD has traditionally been more pacifist than most other mainstream parties in Germany, which long neglected its military in part due to guilt over its bloody 20th century past. The party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz did recently commit to the 2% NATO goal, but as with junior coalition partner the Greens, has members who remain unconvinced.
According to FAZ, Esken expressed scepticism about the efforts of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, also of the SPD, to hike defence spending in next year's budget.Germany's regular 2023 defence budget was around 50 billion euros , well short of 75 billion euros, or 2% of economic output.
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