https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...-row-vhwhx8bq3
‘
Meddling’ Trump envoy Richard Grenell angers Germans in defence row
SaveA senior German MP has called for the US ambassador to be expelled from Berlin for his “insubordinate behaviour” after an ill-tempered exchange over military spending.
Richard Grenell, 52, who was appointed by President Trump last year, faced condemnation from across the political spectrum on Tuesday for his “thuggish” and “clumsy” criticism of Germany’s defence budget, which is forecast to decline in real terms in the early 2020s.
In the latest episode of his running commentary on the perceived shortcomings of
Angela Merkel’s government, the ambassador said that the cuts sent a “disturbing signal” to other Nato members. In response Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy speaker of the Bundestag, accused the US of acting like an “occupying power” and called for Mr Grenell to be declared persona non grata.
Mr Kubicki, 67, who is also the deputy leader of the liberal Free Democrat party, said that while he had no desire to defend the armed forces budget, the ambassador should be sent back to Washington “for reasons of self-respect”.
“Any American diplomat who behaves like the high commissioner of an occupying power has to learn that there are limits to our tolerance,” he said. “It is no longer tolerable for the American ambassador to repeatedly meddle in the politics of the sovereign German republic.”......
This week the ambassador renewed his criticism of
Germany’s “unacceptably” low defence spending, which is due to rise from 1.3 per cent of GDP to 1.37 per cent next year before falling back to 1.25 per cent in 2023. This is significantly below the 2 per cent commitment expected from Nato members and is at odds with the chancellor’s promise to raise the level to 1.5 per cent by 2024.
Mrs Merkel, 64, issued a tacit rebuke to Mr Grenell in a speech on Tuesday. “I would like to set something straight,” she said. “What is decisive is the actual expenditures, and they are always being revised upwards.”
Carsten Schneider, an MP with the Social Democrats, Mrs Merkel’s centre-left coalition partners, said the ambassador was an “absolute diplomatic failure” whose treatment of a close ally “reminds one of the swaggering of a thug”.......