Even before the NATO summit kicks off in The Hague on Tuesday, one thing is clear: The alliance's ambitious goals will place heavy demands on Germany.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced that he will provide all the necessary financial resources to make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe.

But NATO's new goals are ambitious: The plan is for the 32 member states to spend 5% of their economic output on defense. Until now, it has been 2% — which is what Germany currently spends on defense.

It was US President Donald Trump who first proposed the target of 5%. He threatened Europe's NATO allies, saying that if they continued paying as little as they had so far, the United States would refuse to provide assistance. In 2024, the US alone covered two-thirds of the defense spending of all NATO member states.

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Many European countries met Trump's demand with skepticism, and many said 5% was far too high. In 2024, some countries were far from even meeting the 2% target. A few days before the summit, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced that the entire NATO alliance would meet the 2% target by 2025.

But this is only the first step toward even higher spending. On Sunday, NATO allies, including Germany, reached a deal to set the target to 5% of defense spending by 2035.

While the details are to be officially announced at the NATO summit,........

© Deutsche Welle