Germany’s new chancellor Friedrich Merz seems serious about his pledge to make the Bundeswehr the ‘strongest conventional army in Europe’. Yet less than a month into his chancellorship, a daunting realisation is dawning on Berlin: without resorting to conscription, there is little prospect of growing the German army or fulfilling Merz’s ambitious promise.
Merz’s defence minister Boris Pistorius – the only SPD politician from Olaf Scholz’s administration to remain in the cabinet – is in Brussels today to commit Germany to raising defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2032. This spending would be split, with 3.5 per cent dedicated to core military spending, and the remaining 1.5 per cent used on defence-adjacent projects, such as maintaining and building more critical infrastructure like roads, bridges and railways. This is a particularly striking commitment for Pistorius to make considering that Germany only met Nato’s current target of 2 per cent for the first time last year.
Germany’s army has a retention problem: it is at risk of shrinking – not growing
Germany’s ability to commit to the new Nato defence target without resistance has been made easier by the spending reforms Merz forced through the Bundestag shortly after he won February’s federal election.
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