Berlin wants to pump defense spending numbers by including military mobility

BERLIN — The cash-strapped German government is looking at how it can include the financing of transport infrastructure used by the military into its defense spending to meet NATO’s spending target.
Following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022, the German government set up a dedicated €100 billion fund to modernize the Bundeswehr helping it meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP spending target this year.
However, the draft budget for 2025 stops short of maintaining that level. Instead of the €6.5 billion boost requested by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the draft budget proposes a modest rise of €1.2 billion.
With the €100 billion fund now mostly allocated, it’s unclear how Germany will meet its pledge to maintain spending above the 2 percent threshold moving forward, especially after 2027.
A senior German government official told POLITICO that Berlin is looking at how it can include spending on military mobility.
That could include the costs of buttressing roads and railways needed to carry troops and tanks across the country.
NATO has strict guidelines on what spending meets its definition of defense expenditures, and notes: “Expenditure for the military component of mixed civilian-military activities is included, but only when the military component can be specifically accounted for or estimated.”
Military mobility has long been a headache for defense planners, especially in Germany, prompting the European Union to set up a cash pot in its current long-term budget to finance schemes that have a clear use for defense.
The German daily Handelsblatt has also reported that senior figures want to include military mobility financing in the annual spending pledge.
“The federal government is committed to NATO’s 2 percent target,” said a Defense Ministry spokesperson.
In addition to the annual defense budget, Berlin also includes in its defense spending total sent to NATO some expenditures from other departments. That includes the Foreign Office, Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance, the spokesperson said, but the total amount is classified.
Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general, said that while NATO’s calculation excludes most mobility expenditure, the NATO Security Investment Programme does cover some infrastructure requirements, such as modernizing an air base or building a warehouse.
“Ultimately allies can decide to put money on many things as long as they agree,” Grand said. “In practice, the bulk of the military mobility effort will fall on the EU and [the European Commission’s transport department] DG MOVE which has started investing (modestly) in military mobility requirements under the current [multiannual financial framework] MFF.”
In June, the German Council on Foreign Relations called for a national fund of at least €30 billion to be set up to cover the most urgent work on the parts of the country’s network of 38,400 kilometers of railway track and 13,000 km of highway needed for tank and troop transit.