Pistorius was hosting his counterparts in a new format that U.K. Defence Secretary John Healy dubbed “E5.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plus years of badgering by the U.S. is having an impact.
France and Germany reached NATO’s spending target of at least 2 percent GDP this year, although Italy still falls short. The U.K. is over that threshold and Poland, at 4.1 percent of GDP, is the biggest spender in NATO.
There’s a growing consensus that the 2 percent target has to raised, even more so since Donald Trump was elected. A NATO top commander told POLITICO that 3 percent was likely to become the new bar.
Paris is “increasing its defense budget but the question is: How can we use that money in the most efficient way, to develop military capabilities?” said French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
He mentioned the European Long-range Strike Approach (ELSA) — which gathers the five countries present in Berlin plus Sweden to develop a new cruise missile — as an example of how Europeans are trying to close capability gaps.
