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US President Donald Trump began the NATO summit with a tirade against Germany. At a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, he accused Wednesday Germany of being "captive to Russia" because of its dependence on vis-à-vis the gas supply. Germany then allows NATO to protect it from Russia without paying its own defense.
12.33, July 11, 2018
The 29 Heads of State and Government of the Countries of the NATO meet at noon in Brussels for their two-day summit. Among other things, they want to make decisions at military alliance headquarters on more rapidly deployable military units, new command centers, and an expanded training mission in Iraq. But Trump had already made known in advance that he wanted to talk about the low defense spending of several European allies, especially Germany. "Germany is completely controlled by Russia," Trump said before the meeting at a breakfast with Stoltenberg in reference to the addiction. supply of oil and Russian gas. "You pay billions of dollars to Russia and then we have to defend them against Russia."
He finds the German behavior "very inappropriate", continued Trump, who spoke of more than five minutes of rage. This is also true for Germany, which spends "just over one percent" of its defense economic performance. It was "a very bad thing for NATO". This must be spoken with Germany. The German government must increase defense spending "immediately", demanded Trump. "Germany is a rich country (…) You could do it immediately without problem."
At their summit in Wales in 2014, NATO countries set themselves the goal of moving their defense to ten-year "Direction two percent" increase. Trump interprets this as an obligation to create "at least" two percent by 2024 and accuses Germany and other allies of being defended at the expense of the United States
Germany's military spending will remain at 1, according to recent estimates from NATO. 24% lie. Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised an increase to 1.5% by 2024.
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, could not stop Trump in his tirade against the # 39; Germany. "Despite these differences of opinion," NATO allies have always managed to agree on the central task of NATO, he began a time. And even during the cold war, there had been exchanges with the Soviet Union.
"Energy is a very different story from normal trade," countered Trump. He also expressly criticized the proposed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline projects from Russia to Germany. It is "very sad" that Germany concludes such agreements, said the US president. "They only make Russia rich."
Trump also pointed out that the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) is chairman of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG. Nord Stream 2 will bring gas from Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Trump refers to the countries of Eastern Europe that are against the pipeline. For example, Poland does not want such a gas to become "not a prisoner of Russia".
Stoltenberg said after breakfast that he was expecting an "open and honest discussion" at the summit. He does not see the conflict on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a subject for NATO. "The decision is not NATO, it's a national decision," Stoltenberg said. There are different points of view on the German-Russian natural gas project, but that does not belong to NATO. However, energy security and a variety of sources of energy are important for all NATO partners.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen reacts calmly to Trump's attacks on Germany. "We are almost used to it," she said Wednesday just before the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, given Trump's harsh criticism of Germany. . "We can handle it." She denied the question of whether she saw Trump unjustly targeted by the Allies.
Trump's criticism was somehow justified, von der Leyen said. Nevertheless, she reiterated that she was not focusing solely on the so-called two percent target of NATO. Von der Leyen appealed to Trump 's entrepreneurial spirit. "I would like businessman Donald Trump to look not only at the bottom line, but also at the yield," she said. Germany is about the second largest net contributor and the second largest troop contributor to NATO. She would be very happy if the focus was more on skills and contributions to the Alliance. The minister warned the alliance against a split because only Russia and China would benefit.
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