Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting has tried to win over the Greens to his ambitious but controversial plans to raise the country’s defence spending, promising to expand the scope of the plans and demanding of them: “What more do you actually want from us?”
The outgoing parliament met on Thursday to debate the creation of a €500bn (£420bn) fund for infrastructure investment and radical changes in Germany’s borrowing limits in order to boost defence spending.
Friedrich Merz, whose conservatives won last month’s election and who is on the verge of becoming the new leader, wants to seal the funding deal before the new parliament convenes in less than two weeks. An expanded group of far-right and far-left MPs could oppose it in the new Bundestag, a “blocking minority” Merz is keen to avoid.
Amid expectations that Germany will relax a key element of its strict fiscal rules known as the “debt brake”, its allies have responded favourably and markets have rallied. Economic forecasters have said a public spending boost is likely to help the country emerge from two years of economic doldrums.
But an unusually tense and fractious debate proved on Thursday that the deal is far from being realised, as Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance and his probable future coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), are far from securing the required support of the Greens.
In an attempt to win them over Merz offered to expand the scope of defence spending to include civil defence and intelligence spending, as well as allowing up to €50bn for climate protection. He asked the Greens: “What more do you want from us in so short a time?”
Merz stressed his belief in the urgency of investing in security. “We have to do something to improve our defensive capabilities, and quickly,” he said, describing a “truly worrying security situation in Europe”. Germany must “do something now … Anything else would be irresponsible,” he added.
The Greens’ parliamentary co-leader Britta Haßelmann accused Merz of “bad manners”, saying he had not sought a proper, respectful conversation with her party but had instead simply left a message on her voicemail.
Before the nearly four-hour debate, the Greens had indicated that negotiations were at a stalemate, with senior figures citing “grave flaws” in the legislation, including the lack of prominence it gave to climate policies.
Throughout the debate, Merz was accused of wanting to use the new money to finance projects that would please the new government’s conservative and SPD voter base, and was repeatedly called on to provide guarantees, including commitments to much-needed reforms, as well as extra cash to renovate hospitals, schools and kindergartens.
In a blistering attack, Heidi Reichinnek of Die Linke accused Merz’s conservatives and the SPD of being “undemocratic”, convening the old Bundestag “because you’re dissatisfied with the election results”.
Both the far-right Alternative für Deutschland and Die Linke lodged complaints with the constitutional court before the debate, which could deliver its ruling this week.
Merz has argued that raising defence spending has become a matter of urgency because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for Germany but for the whole of Europe. With Donald Trump in the White House, he has argued, the continent must become more independent.
Economists have described Merz’s multibillion-euro package as everything from a “bazooka” to “an extremely risky bet”, while he has called it vital “in light of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent”.
The second and third readings of the government’s plans will take place next Tuesday, before heading to the upper house. Over the coming days Merz will continue to negotiate with the Greens, according to his party officials.
