France must increase its defense spending to make European self-sufficiency a reality, Germany's foreign minister has said.
"He refers repeatedly and precisely to our pursuit of European sovereignty," Johann Wadephul said of French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview with German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
And according to him, "anyone who speaks about this should act accordingly in their own country," he writes. The Guardian, the Telegraph reports.
According to the British media, European countries are facing pressure to increase their defense capabilities, as anxiety grows over whether Washington will use its military power to come to the aid of its NATO partners in the event of an attack.
NATO member states pledged at a summit last June to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, but Wadephul said progress towards that goal has been insufficient.
"Unfortunately, efforts in the French republic have also been insufficient to achieve this so far," he was quoted as saying. "France too must do what we are doing here amidst fierce discussions."
Germany last year exempted most defense spending from the constitutional "debt brake" and has earmarked more than 500 billion euros for defense between 2025 and 2029.
And France, which is in the midst of fierce battles over its public spending, ranks third in the EU in terms of debt burden as a percentage of GDP, after Greece and Italy.
Wadephul's criticism comes amid friction in the Franco-German alliance, which is traditionally seen as the driving force in EU cooperation.
Germany has repeatedly rejected Macron's calls for joint debt to boost investment, while there are disagreements between Paris and Berlin over plans to build a next-generation European fighter jet and to sign an EU trade deal with a group of South American countries.
On the opening day of the Munich Security Conference last week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned of the threat Russia posed to Europe.
“In an era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be strong enough to act alone,” he stressed. “Dear friends, being part of NATO is not just a competitive advantage for Europe. It is also a competitive advantage for the United States. So let us repair and revive transatlantic trust together.”
At the same time, Merz revealed that he had held initial talks with Macron on the possibility of joining France's nuclear umbrella.
But Wadephul, a member of Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), expressed caution about the prospect of Europe building up its own stronger nuclear defenses, saying: "There are enough atomic weapons in the world."
He told German public television late Sunday that "no one in Washington is questioning" whether the US would use its nuclear arsenal to defend Europe if necessary, and warned against creating that impression with a debate that questions the US's defensive shield.Telegrafi/
