Germany likely to apply for EU leeway on defence spending, finmin says
BERLIN, April 25 (Reuters) - Germany is likely to ask the European Commission for an exemption from European Union borrowing limits to increase defence spending in coming years without breaking EU rules, German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies told Reuters on Friday.
"It looks likely that we may do that, but the final decision needs to be taken," Kukies said in an interview, adding that this is being discussed in the German government in coordination with the incoming parties.
The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of GDP each year for four years without any disciplinary steps that would normally kick in once a deficit is above 3% of GDP.
Portugal has signalled it would ask for an exemption and Poland is likely to as well, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The European Commission had hoped the proposal would be widely taken up by the 27 EU countries and help boost EU defence investment by 650 billion euros over the next four years to deter a potential Russian invasion.
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