The majority of Germans support increasing annual defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to poll results published on the eve of the NATO summit.
According to the survey conducted by the public opinion research institute “YouGov” on behalf of the DPA agency, only 18% of respondents believe that 2% of GDP would be excessively high expenses.
At the same time, 45% of respondents believe that the level of defense spending set by the German government is adequate, while 21% admit that even more funds should be allocated to defense.
The German government has currently set a goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense every year. This level is expected to be reached for the first time next year, using a special fund of 100 billion euros, the creation of which was decided in 2022 after Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine.
NATO estimates that Germany’s defense spending will reach 1.57% of GDP this year.
However, the Germans are not so unanimous on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. While 38% of respondents believe that Germany has already supplied Ukraine with too many weapons, 32% believe that the amount of military aid to Ukraine is adequate, and 18% think that Ukraine should have supplied more weapons.
Germany is currently considered the second most important arms supplier to Ukraine after the United States.
In the course of the online survey, 2116 respondents were interviewed throughout Germany from June 30 to July 4.
2023-07-10 10:46:17
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