At the current rate, it would take Germany nearly a century to replenish its military stockpile to the level it was 20 years ago. This is stated in the published today study of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) with the subtitle Germany arming itself too slowly in the face of the Russian threat. According to her, despite the losses in the war against Ukraine, which it started with the invasion in February 2022, Russia is able to expand its military capabilities. Russia would be able to produce all the weapons stockpile Germany now has in half a year, the report adds.
“Russia is becoming an ever-increasing security threat to NATO. At the same time, we are moving very slowly in acquiring the armaments necessary for deterrence,” said Guntram Wolff, lead author of the study entitled Prepared for War in Decades. According to him, Europe now needs a “permanent, significant and immediate increase in proper German defense spending to at least two percent of GDP”. At the summit in Wales in 2014, representatives of NATO countries pledged to gradually increase their military budgets so that they reach two percent of GDP by 2024 at the latest. Germany achieved this goal for the first time this year.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised at the beginning of July that Germany would invest two percent of GDP per year in the military in the long term. He also said that after 2028, the army will receive 80 billion euros (two trillion CZK) annually, which is 28 billion euros more than it has in the budget for this year. Germany will comply with the two percent commitment this year thanks to a special arms fund of 100 billion euros (2.5 trillion CZK). This fund, which is outside the state budget, was established by Germany after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. According to Scholz, the fund will be used up by 2027, but the Federal Republic will strengthen arms investments in the regular annual budget.
Starting this year, the Czech Republic has a legal obligation to spend at least two percent of its GDP on defense. Next year, the Ministry of Defense should manage 154.4 billion crowns, which is roughly 3.24 billion more than this year’s approved budget.
