The EU countries also worked “under high pressure” to complete another sanction package against Russia. “All of this serves the purpose of finally moving Russia to the negotiating table and clearing the way to a ceasefire,” added Merz. The equipment of the Ukrainian army is a “permanent topic” in this regard.
The White House had initially announced last week that the USA would stop some important arms deliveries to Ukraine. However, the US President had recently announced that the Ukraine would defend additional weapons to defend them and confirm his dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Merz, the NATO Secretary General Rutte received NATO on Wednesday on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany, also underlined the importance of the massive additional armor expenditure in Germany. “We will expand the Bundeswehr into an army that has a flagship character in the alliance,” said the Chancellor.
It is important that the upgrade is made in close coordination with the European partners, said Merz. It emphasized the importance of “standardization and scale effects” – that is, uniform standards as possible in the armed forces of different countries and the possibility of buying armaments in a larger number and thus at lower prices.
Rutte expressed appreciatively about Germany’s course in defense policy. “I know I can rely on Germany, I can rely on you personally,” said the former Dutch head of government at Merz ‘address.
The aim of the significantly higher defense spending of European NATO countries is to end the “debate about fair load division” in NATO, said Rutte. The United States had repeatedly accused European allies in recent years to contribute too little to NATO’s military skills.
According to the Federal Government, the meeting between Merz and Rutte was concerned with security issues in the euro-Atlantan area and current challenges for NATO.
A ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Federal Republic of the Federal Republic was planned for Wednesday evening, on which, in addition to Merz and Rutte, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Foreign Minister Johan WadePhul (CDU) should also speak.
