BERLIN (AP) \u2014 The prospective partners in Germany\u2019s next government said Tuesday they will seek to loosen the nation\u2019s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending, an issue of growing urgency as doubts increase about the United States\u2019 commitment to European allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also said they will seek to set up a \u20ac500 billion ($533 billion) fund to finance spending on Germany\u2019s often-creaking infrastructure over the next 10 years to restore the economy \u2014 Europe\u2019s biggest, which has shrunk for the last two years \u2014 to \u201ca stable growth course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Center-right election winner Friedrich Merz, who is trying to form a coalition government with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said the two sides will propose exempting the spending of more than 1% of gross domestic product on defense from rules that limit the government\u2019s ability to borrow money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said they will bring the proposals for that and the infrastructure package, which will be financed by loans, to Germany\u2019s outgoing parliament next week. Recent weeks have brought new urgency to efforts to further strengthen the country\u2019s long-neglected military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn view of the increasing threat situation, it is clear to us that Europe \u2014 and with Europe, the Federal Republic of Germany \u2014 must now very quickly make very big efforts, very quickly, to strengthen the defense capability of our country and the European continent,\u201d Merz told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are counting on the United States of America standing by our mutual alliance commitments in the future as well,\u201d he said in a reference to NATO. \u201cBut we also know that the funding for the defense of our country and alliance must now be expanded significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merz cited \u201cthe most recent decisions by the American government\u201d as one factor. He didn\u2019t offer specifics, but appeared to be referring to Washington\u2019s dramatically shifting stance on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2018Whatever it takes\u2019 must also go for our defense now, in view of the threats to our freedom and to peace on our continent,\u201d Merz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merz has long been committed to the trans-Atlantic military and political alliance. After his Union bloc won Germany\u2019s election last month, he said an \u201cabsolute priority\u201d would be to strengthen Europe \u201cso that we can really achieve independence from the U.S. step by step.\u201d He said Trump administration comments suggest \u201cthe fate of Europe is largely indifferent to the Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Scholz pledged to increase Germany\u2019s defense spending to the current NATO target of 2% of gross domestic product and announced the creation of a 100 billion euro special fund to modernize the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany met that target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are just as unsettled, and just as concerned, as large parts of our population,\u201d Bavarian governor Markus S\u00f6der, a leading conservative ally of Merz, said of the changing U.S. stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s \u201cdebt brake\u201d allows new borrowing worth only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product, though it can be suspended for emergencies that are out of the state\u2019s control. It was suspended for three years after the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both legislative proposals will require a two-thirds majority in parliament as the \u201cdebt brake\u201d is anchored in Germany\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That could be complicated in the newly elected German parliament, where the far-right Alternative for Germany and the hard-left Left Party have a little over one-third of seats between them. Alternative for Germany portrays itself as a staunch defender of the \u201cdebt brake.\u201d The Left Party opposes it but is skeptical about military spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But until the new parliament convenes, expected in late March, the old one remains in place. The prospective coalition partners will still need support from at least one of the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats to get their plans approved. The latter swiftly criticized plans to run up more debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Social Democrats\u2019 co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, said his party and Merz\u2019s conservatives also agreed in the longer term \u201cto rework the \u2018debt brake\u2019 by the end of 2025 to enable more investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merz said the parties believe the planned infrastructure package will \u201calso trigger private investment on a large scale.\u201d He said quick improvements to Germany\u2019s competitiveness also will be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two sides have to reach agreement on many other issues before they can be sure of forming a coalition, but there\u2019s no other politically plausible combination of parties that could form a new government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Merz cited \u201cthe most recent decisions by the American government\u201d as one factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3314],"class_list":["post-69323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DK4T4WRBFFA7BORRHI2GJFQUTU","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2025\/03\/05\/germanys-likely-next-government-seeks-higher-defense-spending\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n