German troops must be ‘fit’ for war if Putin attacks, Defense Minister Pistorius says

German forces need to be ready for war, which means more spending is needed, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in an interview with the Funke media group.

“We need a defense budget of at least 80 billion, rather 90 billion euros annually from 2028 onwards to meet the requirements we have due to the tightened security situation,” Pistorius said.

Pistorius specifically cited Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for almost three years, and has threatened to attack allies who are supporting Kyiv in its effort to defend itself.

“If Putin attacks, we must be fit to wage war,” Pistorius said in the interview published on Saturday.

The minister’s comments come amid a push for NATO members to increase their defense spending, with new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte saying alliance members need to spend “much more” on defense than the current target of 2 percent of gross domestic product.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly told European officials he wants NATO allies to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense.

In order to insure such a budgetary increase, Pistorious said he would favor a reform of Germany’s debt brake, which puts a constitutional cap on the budget deficit.

“I think it is politically wrong to rigidly adhere to the debt brake in this situation,” Pistorius said. “If we finance the necessary expenditure for our defense from the normal budget, this strangles the state’s ability to act, endangers social security and thus strengthens extremist parties.”

The debt brake, which was written into the constitution by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2009, limits the structural budget deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP in normal times. It has increasingly been criticized as being not in tune with modern realities.

Pistorius also spoke out in favor of Germany taking part in a European effort to send peacekeepers to Ukraine — but stressed that such a plan could only be implemented once the war is over.