Merkel said on Monday that it was important to stand by Berlin's commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and noted that Germany had in the past spent much more than the current 1.24 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) without any difficulty.

Reaching NATO's target of 2 percent of GDP was "not completely beyond the imagination," Merkel said.

She was addressing top military officers in Berlin, alongside her defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, on the eve of the budget debate in Germany's parliament. Von der Leyen told the officers military spending would increase to about 1.3 percent of GDP by 2019, with a goal of 1.5 percent by 2025.

Read more: How does Germany contribute to NATO?

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel addressing senior officers in Berlin on Monday

Pressure from US

US President Donald Trump in March singled out Germany for failing to meet a defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP agreed upon between NATO members. The target, and a more general bid for Germany to increase its overall military spending and move away from the non-interventionist traditions of its post-war constitution, has long been on Berlin's international "to do" list.

Merkel even acknowledged that current spending — at around 1.2 percent of GDP — raised questions about "Germany's credibility," saying that these were ones she too had experienced firsthand, without naming names. "Therefore we must deal with this," she said.

Read more: Germany 'not fair' on defense spending, says Donald Trump

Germany's NATO missions Germany's role in NATO West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.

Germany's NATO missions Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.

Germany's NATO missions Keeping the peace in Kosovo Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.

Germany's NATO missions Patrolling the Aegean Sea In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Germany's NATO missions More than a decade in Afghanistan In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Nearly a thousand soldiers are still deployed in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support.

Germany's NATO missions German tanks in Lithuania Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania so far in 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defence in a generation," according to NATO.

Germany's NATO missions Taking over the leadership The Bundeswehr is due to take over leadership of NATO's multinational Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) at the start of 2019. The rapid reaction force has been set up to counter potential Russian aggression on the alliance's eastern flank. Author: Lewis Sanders IV



'Not some kind of fetish'

Speaking at the same conference, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said the financial figures should not be the only focus, but rather total input. She noted Germany put up a large number of troops by comparison with many other NATO countries.

There's strong resistance in Germany to high military spending, which Merkel alluded to on Monday in Berlin:

"A narrative has arisen where I think all of us — and here I'm talking about all parliamentarians — must be careful: [A narrative suggesting] that this 2 percent, or this progression towards 2 percent, is something that could lead to a militarization of Germany," Merkel said. "The people with proper expertise ... of course know that this 2 percent is not some kind of fetish that has nothing to do with our Bundeswehr. Rather, they know that such a sum is necessary to meet our international tasks and to provide domestic defense."

Germany spent about €37 billion ($44 billion) on defense in 2017 — the ninth-highest defense budget in the world. That sum is scheduled to increase to €39 billion in 2018, rising to €41.5 billion in 2019.

Read more: German military set to be rebuilt around national security: report

Percentage of spending lowered by strong growth

According to Germany's federal industry association, BDI, the shortfall in defense spending was mainly due to stronger-than-expected economic growth last year, which significantly lowered the percentage. Germany is perhaps a low spender in percentage terms, however, the country's former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has argued that if the target were revamped to include other factors, such as humanitarian aid and stabilization programs, Germany's gross spending would perhaps rank even higher among NATO member nations. That said, NATO has given its members until 2024 to reach the 2 percent goal, and Berlin has vowed to meet that commitment.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen singing Christmas carols with soldiers in Afghanistan

Read more: Only 4 of Germany's 128 Eurofighter jets combat ready — report

Merkel's conservatives have clashed with their junior coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD) — who now control the country's Finance Ministry — over how quickly to boost military spending towards the NATO target of 2 percent. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has offered the Defense Ministry only half the money it asked for in his budget.

Von der Leyen, a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has called for billions of euros more. Despite the shortfall, she said the budget had risen as a result of the growing economy. "We're on the way, and we're maintaining our course."

The German parliament is set to discuss defense spending on Wednesday.

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kw/se (AP, dpa)