Germany’s Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, announced that the country might increase its army from 203,000 to 230,000 soldiers. Right now, Germany’s armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, only have about 180,000 soldiers, which is 20,000 soldiers short of their goal. The need for more soldiers comes as NATO wants to strengthen its forces after Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
NATO is expected to set new and tougher goals for its members by 2025. This comes because they believe the security situation has worsened since the invasion. Leaders in NATO say they might need between 35,000 and 50,000 extra soldiers to handle a potential attack from Russia. If Germany continues to provide about 10% of NATO’s strength, it will need an extra 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, effectively creating one more division in addition to the three they are already working to strengthen.
Germany has been spending more on its military since the invasion, meeting NATO’s spending goals for the first time in many years. However, there are still concerns about how they will continue this spending. Budget issues recently led to political troubles for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition, leading to a snap election scheduled for February.
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