In his first address to the Bundestag parliament on Wednesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to rearm Germany so that the country would have the “strongest” military force in Europe.
Following years of chronic underinvestment in defence and relying on the United States for protection, Chancellor Merz told lawmakers that “strengthening the Bundeswehr is our top priority” and will make “every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible agreement between the European and American partners.”
In this context, Merz promised to expand Germany’s military forces “into the strongest conventional army in Europe,” Die Welt reports.
Prior to coming into power this month, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, Merz, negotiated a trillion euro spending package with his now coalition partners, the left-wing Social Democrats and the Greens. Around half of the money will be devoted to defence spending, while the rest will be spend on infrastructure and so-called green energy projects.
This was hastily agreed to amid growing pressure from the Trump administration in Washington for Germany and other European powers to finally pay for their own defence after years of failing to meet their NATO spending requirements.
“We are not a war party, but we are not uninvolved third parties either. We want to be able to defend ourselves so that we don’t have to defend ourselves. Strength deters aggression, weakness invites aggression,” Merz said on Wednesday.
“There are many young people in our country who are willing to take on this responsibility… we want and will promote that,” he added.
While Germany finally met its NATO spending requirement of 2 per cent of GDP last year, following an emergency investment of 100 billion euros by the previous government, the Bundeswehr remains in poor condition.
After decades of neglect, mostly under the leadership of Angela Merkel and her former Defence chief, now-EU President Ursula von der Leyen, and sending billions in arms to Ukraine, the Bundeswehr badly needs fresh investment.
In March, parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces Eva Hoegl revealed that despite the emergency spending measures, the size of Germany’s armed forces contracted in 2024 from 181,540 people to 181,200, calling into question the stated aim of expanding to 200,000 by 2031, which itself was already delayed from the previous target of 2025. Meanwhile, the average age of German military personnel rose from 32 years old to 34.
Although the leftist Social Democrats and the Greens agreed to the trillion euro investment package, after considerable concessions from the supposedly centre-right Merz, the money cannot be approved until the parliament amends the constitution to get around the “debt brake” limit on spending. This will likely require the support of the far-left Die Linke party, the descendant of the former communist government of East Germany, and therefore, likely more concessions to the left on social and economic issues.
Merz’s hawkish stance toward the war in Ukraine was criticised on Wednesday by the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, who accused the government of “warmongering” and ignoring the problems facing German citizens. She also warned that Merz would seek to arm Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles, which she said would make Germany a “target”.
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