Advertisement

Germany's massive spending package approved by the Bundesrat

AFP
AFP - news@thelocal.de
Germany's massive spending package approved by the Bundesrat
From left to right: Dietmar Woidke (SPD), Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Franziska Giffey (SPD), Berlin Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, Kai Wegner (CDU), Governing Mayor of Berlin, and Iris Spranger (SPD), Berlin Senator for the Interior and Sports, greet each other before the start of the plenary session in the German Bundesrat in which the spending package was passed. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd von Jutrczenka

Germany's Bundesrat on Friday gave the final seal of approval to a massive spending package aimed at beefing up the country's military and overhauling its infrastructure.

Advertisement

The package, which modifies Germany's constitutionally enshrined debt brake, needed a two-thirds majority to pass and was approved by 53 of the Bundesrat's 69 members, after it cleared the lower house on Tuesday.

The package is the brainchild of the incoming government of the likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose centre-right CDU/CSU is in coalition talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) after February's election.

US President Donald Trump's overtures to Moscow over the Ukraine war have convinced many German politicians of the urgent need to invest in Germany's defence to become more independent from Washington.

The Bundesrat upper house of parliament is made up of representatives of Germany's 16 federal states, and several state leaders spoke in favour of the package before the vote.

Bavaria's state premier Markus Söder, who heads the CSU, told the chamber that "we must do everything we can to ensure that Germany once again becomes one of the strongest armies in Europe and can protect itself".

Söder said the armed forces need new weapons systems, including drones and air defences.

READ ALSO: What's in Germany's giant spending package?

Advertisement

He labelled the massive infrastructure spending a new "German Marshall Plan", in reference to the American post-World War effort to rebuild western Europe.

The plan exempts defence spending above one percent of GDP from strict debt rules and sets up a 500-billion-euro fund for infrastructure over 12 years.

All in all, it paves the way for over one trillion euros worth of outlays in Europe's top economy, which has shrunk for the past two years.

READ ALSO: Germany has ditched the debt brake, but what will the consequences be?

More

Comments

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at news@thelocal.de.
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also