Relations between the United States of America and Germany have fluctuated. It seems that the future of the Ukraine war will also determine the future of these relations after Donald Trump takes office. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday during the meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine, that it should be held regularly even after the inauguration of the new US president. Otherwise, Pistorius pointed out, Europe will have to act alone.
"We have had a discussion and we will continue this within our means. What needs to be done to strengthen the defense industry of Ukraine. These are the challenges we face now. If these goals change after January 20, then we will have to make our own decisions. But what worries me and what I have observed is about the new American president, who has never been concerned about the concerns of others. So we just have to do our job," said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, reports A2 CNN.
Also, Pistorius expressed his opposition to Donald Trump's idea of increasing military spending on defense to 5 percent.
"I'm a pragmatist and I'm a lawyer anyway. And lawyers are known to hate numbers. But 2% may be the baseline, obviously it will have to be more in the coming years, however, I'm convinced that the yardstick with which we should orient ourselves is not so much the amount of money, but the question of how to achieve NATO's goals", Pistorius emphasized, A2 CNN reports.
A "No" to the increase in defense spending has also come from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "I think it's better to focus on the path that NATO has agreed on for a long time," Scholz told Focus Online. "Current NATO rules require members to dedicate at least 2% of their budget to military spending," he said.
The Contact Group, made up of about 50 allies who usually meet monthly at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was established in 2022 by outgoing US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Pistorius said Germany would provide Ukraine with additional guided missiles for the IRIS-T systems, originally intended for the German military, and stick to its promised delivery schedule. (A2 Televizion)
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