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Germany rejects Trump claim it owes Nato and US 'vast sums' for defence
The German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday rejected Donald Trump’s claim that Germany owes Nato and the US “vast sums” of money for defence.
“There is no debt account at Nato,” Von der Leyen said in a statement, adding that it was wrong to link the alliance’s target for members to spend 2% of their economic output on defence by 2024 solely to Nato.
“Defence spending also goes into UN peacekeeping missions, into our European missions and into our contribution to the fight against [Isis] terrorism,” Von der Leyen said.
| Umm, no, to borrow a line, "that's not how it works." Your NATO commitment is the baseline, and you add spending for other defense on top of that, just as we do. |
Trump, who was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, said on Twitter on Saturday – a day after meeting the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Washington – that Germany “owes vast sums of money to Nato & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”
His words prompted criticism, also published on Twitter, from a former permanent representative to Nato under President Obama. Ivo Daalder, permanent representative from 2009 to 2013, wrote: “Sorry, Mr President, that’s not how Nato works. The US decides for itself how much it contributes to defending Nato. This is not a financial transaction, where Nato countries pay the US to defend them. It is part of our treaty commitment."
| The same treaty to which the other members pledge, and to which they pledged to meet certain minimums. Which many of them aren't doing. But if Ivo is correct in that the US can decide for itself how much to contribute to NATO, great -- let's contribute LESS and see how it goes... |
Trump has urged Germany and other Nato members to accelerate efforts to meet Nato’s defence spending target.
Von der Leyen said everyone wanted the burden to be shared fairly
| ...meaning, mostly by Uncle Sugar... |
and for that to happen it was necessary to have a “modern security concept” that included a modern Nato but also a European defence union and investment in the United Nations.
| Which is all soft, easily hidden spending that can be inflated to look good... |
German defence spending is set to rise by €1.4bn ($1.5bn) to €38.5bn ($41.4bn) in 2018 – a figure that is projected to represent 1.26% of economic output, the finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has said. In 2016, Germany’s defence spending ratio stood at 1.18%.
| Meanwhile, Britain, France and the UK are shipping troops to the Baltic states... |
During her trip to Washington, Merkel reiterated Germany’s commitment to the 2% military spending goal.
| When, Frau Chancellor? Perhaps in your lifetime? |
Posted by: Steve White 2017-03-20 |
