FRANKFURT, June 13 (Reuters) – Germany must increase military spending and take on a greater share of military burdens within NATO, the conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor said in a newspaper interview on Sunday. Laschet, backed by Merkel’s conservatives to run for chancellor at the Sept. 26 election, said he would ensure that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, meets the alliance’s spending target of 2% of gross domestic product. He said the Bundeswehr, the federal armed forces, should take on more responsibility in Africa, around the Mediterranean and in Mali. But the Greens reject the two percent NATO target as they deem it costly and arbitrary. (Reporting by Vera Eckert in Frankfurt and Holger Hansen in Berlin, editing by William Maclean)(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 13, 2021 14:03 UTC