Germany triggers EU’s emergency clause for defense spending – POLITICO

BRUSSELS ― Germany has asked the European Union to activate an emergency clause that would allow it to rapidly increase defense investment without breaching the bloc’s spending rules.

Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine and the “changing environment” in global security “requires a significant build-up of defense capabilities with a major impact on its public finances,” acting Finance Minister Jörg Kukies wrote in a letter dated April 24 and obtained by POLITICO.

The European Commission’s emergency clause would give EU governments the ability to increase defense spending up to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product each year for four years as part of its broader plan to speed up the bloc’s rearmament. It asked governments to coordinate their requests if possible and to present them by April 30.

While other big European countries such as Italy or Spain are reluctant to increase their debt to buy military equipment, Germany, which doesn’t have a debt problem, has made rearmament a political priority.

The German parliament recently passed a constitutional reform that allows far greater rearmament spending. Incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz’s governing coalition, set to start work next month, agreed to a €1 trillion package of military and infrastructure investment.

The letter, to European Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domański, in his role coordinating EU finance ministers’ work, said the move would avoid a huge reallocation of the German budget away from other priorities.

Kukies also used the letter to lobby the Commission to introduce a wider definition of “defense” when it comes to defining spending. He suggested using the NATO definition because it “adequately reflects the multiple threats to security in Europe” and considering “in particular dual-use expenditure.”

Chris Lunday reported from Berlin.