France needs to boost its defense spending to turn calls for European sovereignty into concrete capabilities, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday, February 16. “He repeatedly and correctly refers to our pursuit of European sovereignty,” Wadephul said of French President Emmanuel Macron in a radio interview with broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. “Anyone who talks about it needs to act accordingly in their own country.”
European nations are under pressure to develop the capabilities to better defend themselves amid increasing disinterest from the United States regarding the continent’s security and some doubt over the solidity of the NATO alliance. Though NATO member states pledged last June to get defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, Wadephul said progress so far had been lacking.
“Unfortunately, efforts in the French Republic have also been insufficient to achieve this so far,” Wadephul said. “France, too, needs to do what we are doing here with difficult discussions.”
Germany last year exempted most defense spending from constitutionally enshrined debt limits and current budgets foresee Berlin spending more than €500 billion ($593 billion) on defense between 2025 and 2029.
Under financial pressure, France has less room for manoeuvre. The country has the European Union’s third-highest debt burden as a proportion of GDP after Greece and Italy, almost twice the 60% ceiling set in EU treaties.
Discord over fighter jet
Wadephul’s call comes amid strains in the Franco-German alliance, traditionally the motor of European cooperation. Germany has slapped down Macron’s repeated calls for so-called euro bonds to boost investment, fearing common EU debt would lead to open-ended subsidies of EU member states with weak finances.
Wadephul reiterated that Germany was also opposed to the proposal when it comes to defense spending, adding that NATO member states had last year agreed to reach the 5% spending goal by their own efforts.
“We must also say to all our European partners – in a spirit of friendship but with clarity – that what was promised, the 5%, were commitments to national contributions,” Wadephul said. “We are looking forward to and eagerly await another speech by the French president, I believe on the 27th of this month, where he will comment on strategic issues,” he added.
Nerves are also fraying over plans by Paris and Berlin for a next-generation European fighter jet, where German industry and unions have accused French aerospace firm Dassault of seeking to dictate the terms of the project.
In other recent disagreements, France wanted to block an EU trade deal with a group of South American countries, backed by Germany. Paris also opposed a push by Berlin and Rome to water down a planned EU ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2035.