Germany readying 1.5% of GDP for dual military use infrastructure, says Merz

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany plans to allocate 1.5% of its economic output to infrastructure that has military uses, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a construction industry event, Merz said the plans meant military spending would go beyond the 3.5% allocation to military procurement it had signed up to under NATO rules.

"On the path to the NATO summit at the end of June, we have committed ourselves: the 3.5% NATO quota for military procurement, but in addition 1.5% available for infrastructure that is militarily useful like bridges and roads," he said.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Matthias Williams, Editing by Madeline Chambers)