Foreign Min Commits To 2% Of GDP Def Spending Amid Budget Uncertainty

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaking at the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels states that Germany will meet its 2% of GDP defence spending target in 2024. The commitments comes amid the federal gov't in Berlin racing to put together a supplementary budget for 2023 and yet to present a budget for 2024 amid the fallout of the Constitutional Court ruling that an off-budget fund related to climate change was unconstitutional.

• Germany's shift in stance on defence spending, from long-standing NATO laggard to one of the alliance's largest spenders behind the US but alongside the UK, has been hailed in Washington and other western capitals.
• However, the Court ruling has led to speculation that the unconstitutionality of off-budget funds - including potentially the EUR100bn "Zeitenwende" - could impact German defence spending.
• Euractiv: "[The fund] will not be affected by an emergency budget freeze, the Defence Ministry clarified on Thursday following the uncertainty caused by a court that ruled parts of Germany’s spending commitments unconstitutional. “The precautionary extension of the budget freeze to […] the Bundeswehr special fund was lifted,” the German Defence Ministry said [...] “This ensures that the financing of projects not exclusively covered by the Bundeswehr special fund is also guaranteed,” it continues."