Top German diplomat criticizes France for ‘insufficient’ defense spending under NATO commitments

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s foreign minister criticized France on Monday for "insufficient" defense spending, saying Paris must back up its calls for European sovereignty with action.

European allies must take concrete steps to meet NATO commitments, including raising defense spending to 5% of GDP, Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

French President Emmanuel Macron "rightly speaks repeatedly about our pursuit of European sovereignty. Anyone who talks about it must act accordingly at home,” Wadephul said, adding: “Regrettably, efforts in the French Republic to achieve this have so far been insufficient.”

Germany's top diplomat highlighted Berlin's own efforts, including tough budgetary decisions and reallocations to build defense capacity.

“France, too, is therefore called upon to do what we are doing here, namely to engage in difficult discussions to bring about investment capacity, to take one or two austerity measures in the social sector, and to make savings in other areas in order to have the breathing space needed to achieve the centrally important goal of European defense capability,” Wadephul said.

He stressed that the call applied not just to France but to all European partners and allies.

“We will have to have very open, very honest discussions about this here in our European family,” he said. “Anyone who talks about independence from the US today must first do their homework at home, and Europe still has a lot of work to do in this regard.”