German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet deleted at the last minute the corresponding clause from the draft budget financing law which it passed on Wednesday, the news agency said, adding that this way, Germany will be able to continue targeting its current commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense on average over a five-year period.
When asked to comment on this report, German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told reporters that the plans to reach the 2% military spending target still stand for Berlin. However, she refused to give any further comments on the change to the budget law.
NATO allies set the 2% defense spending target in 2014, expecting to reach it by 2024. However, the military spending in many of member states is still significantly below the agreed figure.