Canada, Germany reject NATO 2%

Canada, Germany reject NATO bid to raise military spending to 2% of GDP
By Wojtek Gwiazda | english@rcinet.ca

Wednesday 3 September, 2014

Days before a NATO summit in Wales, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected a request from the organization to increase Canadian defence spending to two per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“As a Conservative government we have the same philosophy on defence budgeting that we do on any other budgeting, which is, we don’t go out and just specify a dollar figure, and then figure out how to spend it, We go out and figure out what it is we need to do…” the Prime Minister said on Wednesday (September 3) in London.

The Prime Minister’s remarks come the day after a Canadian official said Canada was “open to increasing military spending when and where it makes sense and in response to particular needs. But the notion of setting an arbitrary target does not make sense.”

Germany has also rejected the two per cent commitment.

Media reports suggest NATO is preparing a compromise solution for the summit in Wales.

One report quotes Prime Minister Harper saying; “We’ve agreed to compromise language which essentially acknowledges that all of our countries – all those countries that are below 2% will aim to spend more going forward.”