Rutte Praises Germany's NATO Contribution: Federal Government Prepares Summit in Ankara

At the center of the deliberations was the federal government's announcement that it would reach the target agreed in The Hague of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product for defense spending as early as 2029. Federal Chancellor Merz said: „Deutschland wird schon bis 2029 das in Den Haag im letzten Jahr verabredete 3,5 Prozent-Ziel erreichen, viele Jahre früher, als wir es in der NATO insgesamt verabredet haben.“ Germany thereby aims to be well ahead of the NATO-wide target year of 2035.

With a view to the summit in the Turkish capital, Merz formulated the federal government's foreign policy ambition. „Wir gehen durchaus selbstbewusst in die nächste Woche und sagen den Amerikanern: Ihr seid abhängig von uns, wir sind abhängig von euch“, said the Chancellor. He also assured: „Deutschland kann auf die NATO zählen, aber auch die NATO kann auf Deutschland zählen.“ With this positioning, Berlin is responding to the U.S. announcement that it will significantly reduce its military contributions to NATO – tanker aircraft, fighter jets, and warships.

Restraint on Hormuz Mission

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expressed restraint regarding a possible German deployment for mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz. He currently sees no scenario „dass der Korken schnell aus der Flasche kommt und wir in die Straße von Hormus einfahren könnten, um Minen zu räumen“. Two Bundeswehr ships – a minehunter and a supply vessel – are stationed preventively in the port of Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. Pistorius announced that he wanted to „rechtzeitig die Entscheidung treffen, dass im Zweifel unsere Soldaten ihren Sommer eher bei 40 Grad in Berlin statt bei knapp 50 in Dschibuti verbringen“. Iran had on Tuesday clearly rejected a request from France for a mine-clearance mission.

Conscription and Reserve in Cabinet

The federal cabinet also adopted a resolution to strengthen the reserve: female and male reservists can in future be mandatorily called up for exercises again, and employers must release them for that purpose. By 2035, the number of deployable reservists is to rise to 200,000 – in 2025, only around 60,000 soldiers were „beordert“ to specific reserve duty posts. The number of active Bundeswehr soldiers is to grow from the current approximately 185,000 to at least 260,000 by the mid-2030s.

At the same time, spending is rising: the defense budget is to exceed the threshold of 108 billion euros in 2026 and reach around 152 billion euros by 2029. The ministry also reported approximately 11,000 new Bundeswehr enlistments in the current year across all career paths – an increase of 13 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. Should an insufficient number of volunteers be found, a decision on the reintroduction of military service, which was mandatory for men in Germany until 2011, could already be made in 2027.

Appeal to the Arms Industry

Rutte also directed an appeal to the arms industry. „Die Botschaft der NATO an die Industrie ist ganz klar: Seid bereit, macht schneller, zusammen, mit neuen Produktionslinien, starken Lieferketten“, he said. „Liefert schnell, was wir brauchen“, demanded the NATO Secretary General. Merz picked up this thought: „Denn Abschreckung wird genauso sehr in Fabriken hergestellt wie von Streitkräften projiziert.“ Pistorius pointed out that Europe would also „dringend“ need weapons systems from the United States over the next five to ten years; Germany is working „engstens“ with the U.S. arms industry and is „sehr daran interessiert, bestimmte Systeme oder Teile von Systeme eben auch in Deutschland zu bauen“.

On the role of the alliance, Rutte said: „Die NATO ist und wird ein transatlantisches Bündnis bleiben“, but at the same time called for better burden-sharing. The background is the demand of U.S. President Donald Trump that Europeans must take on more responsibility for their own security instead of relying on the United States. Merz emphasized that his government is making „sicherheitspolitisch Tempo“ and wants to appear „selbstbewusst“ vis-à-vis the United States at the summit.

At the start of the hot phase ahead of the summit, Germany has recently experienced a heatwave. The coming days in Ankara are considered decisive for how the European NATO states will organize their defense contributions in the future – and to what extent they will build up their own capabilities to partially offset the announced U.S. withdrawal.

At the summit, Federal Chancellor Merz also intends, according to information from government circles, to announce a new financial commitment for the support of Ukraine. Details are expected against the backdrop of the ongoing deliberations in Ankara.