Germany needs €30b more for defence from 2028: Minister

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the country will need significantly more defence funding in the middle-term, once a special fund for military modernization expires, reported dpa.

"Once the special fund is gone, we will need at least €85 billion [$87.5 billion] from 2028. That's 30 billion more than today," Pistorius said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper published late on Friday.

The €100 billion special fund was set up in 2022 to rebuild Germany's military, or Bundeswehr, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In 2024, Germany's estimated defence spending was around €52 billion, which, combined with the special fund, amounts to about 2% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Pistorius said that Germany should aim for at least 3% of GDP in defence spending.

"At 3%, we are talking about a little over €120 billion based on today's GDP," he said, noting that Germany is far from this target.

NATO's 2% target achieved

Germany reached NATO's 2% target in defence spending for the first time in decades in 2024, largely due to the special fund financed through debt.

However, Pistorius emphasized that, in the future, the country will need to maintain a consistent level of funding to keep its military modernized.

US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, recently called on NATO allies to spend 5% of their GDP on defence.