BERLIN: German Defence Minister has promised that Germany will strengthen its army to make it the backbone of defence across the Europe, local media reported on Thursday. The statement comes as Germany issued new defence policy main guidelines for the first time in last several years.
The new policy guidelines are being viewed as a key major shift of policy of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz following Russia’s invasion of Kyiv in Feb 2022.
As a first measure to bring the army back up to scratch following decades of attrition after the Cold War, Germany last year established a 100-billion-euro special fund to buy latest arms and vowed to reach NATO’s goal of spending about 2% of the country’s GDP on defence sector from 2024.
Germany Promises to Make its Army ‘Backbone of Defence in Europe’
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called the new document regarding policy guidelines as Germany response to a new situation and reality as Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Kyiv in 2022 had brought back conflict and war to Europe and also increased the level of threat, thereby basically changing the role of Germany and its army.
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“Germany should be the backbone of collective defence and deterrence in Europe,” the Minister said. He further maintained that forces of Germany needed to be more refocused on their central mission -the credible defence of its country and its partners – and be “ready to fight”.
The Minister cited Germany pledge to permanently deploy combat troops to Lithuania, a first for Germany. Just like Berlin, as a frontline nation in the Cold War, had also benefited from the deployment of allied countries’ forces, Germany’s partners expected Berlin to live up to its jobs and responsibility and exercise leadership, Pistorius remarked.
