Germany has deemed French efforts to boost defence spending and strengthen European sovereignty as insufficient, said the German Foreign Minister on Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron frequently emphasises the importance of European sovereignty, noted Minister Johann Wadephul in an interview with Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.
Wadephul added that anyone advocating for sovereignty must act accordingly within their own nation, and that France’s current efforts fall short in achieving this goal.
The minister referred to NATO’s target for Member States, announced under pressure from former US President Donald Trump, to allocate a minimum of 5% of their GDP to security spending by 2035. He suggested that France and other neighbouring countries have significant progress to make in this regard.
Wadephul urged France to prioritise budget cuts in social spending to create the fiscal flexibility necessary to reach the central objective of bolstering Europe’s defence capacity.
He also dismissed Macron’s proposal for a European pooling of debts to fund extensive investments, aligning his stance with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Wadephul stressed that the 5% spending commitment from NATO countries represents national obligations rather than collective European ones.
