German General Breuer Elected to Lead NATO Military Committee — SkimNews
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- General Carsten Breuer was elected Saturday (Sep 19) by military chiefs from NATO's 32 member states meeting in Copenhagen to chair the alliance's Military Committee — its senior military authority and the principal advisory body to political leaders.
- Breuer will take up the role next summer, succeeding Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, who serves as the main military adviser to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
- Breuer assumes the post amid upheaval, as US President Donald Trump has demanded European countries take primary responsibility for the continent's defence after decades of American leadership, prompting allies to ramp up military budgets.
- Germany, Europe's largest economy, has been at the forefront of that spending surge, aiming to double military expenditure to over €200 billion (US$230 billion) by 2030.
- Breuer, a 61-year-old army officer nicknamed "the chancellor's general" for leading Olaf Scholz's COVID crisis committee in 2021-2022, joined the Bundeswehr in 1984, attended the US general staff college at Fort Leavenworth, and served with NATO's ISAF in Kabul in 2014.
- Germany's army chief, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, is expected to succeed Breuer as chief of defence before the end of the year.
Why it matters: A German officer now chairs NATO's senior military authority at a moment when Trump is demanding Europeans pay for their own defence and Berlin is mid-way through a €200 billion military build-up. The committee chair shapes how political pressure gets translated into operational planning, making Breuer's elevation a marker of Germany's rising weight inside the alliance — with Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding lined up to take over Berlin's top military post by year-end.
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