By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-19 12:06:44 | Updated at 2025-03-20 15:49:31
1 day ago
Germany’s incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz has detonated a key pre-election pledge on debt as the country forges ahead with eye-watering net zero and defence uplifts.
On Tuesday, 18 March 2025, Germany’s lower house emphatically through constitutional changes, allowing billions in borrowing and a massive military expansion, all under a caretaker government.
The controversy centres on the fact Merz is breaking a major pre-election pledge on debt, something Germany is usually regarded as a world leader on.
Merz, elected just weeks ago on 28 February, promised to uphold the sacred “debt brake” - a fiscal rule capping deficits at 0.35 per cent of GDP.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, has forced through controversial spending plans to the tune of €1 trillion in Germany
Reuters
The measure was seen as proof of Germany’s economic prudence and iron-grip on its finances, but almost immediately Merz has shattered that pledge.
In what critics are calling a ‘blitzkrieg of political manoeuvring’, the Bundestag voted 512 to 206 to ditch the debt brake as Germany charges into its ‘spending era’.
Commentators have questioned how democratic the move is because the newly elected parliament- including the right-wing AfD- have not taken their seats yet.
Knowing the vote arithmetic was more favourable now than it would be after 25 March, Merz chose to push the changes through the old parliament, denying the AfD and left wing Linke the chance to vote against it.
Hard right AfD party came second in Germany's recent national elections
Getty
European leaders have been jostling for position on who is leading the response to Trump scaling back US support for Ukraine
PA
“We have for at least a decade felt a false sense of security,” Merz told lawmakers ahead of the vote.
“The decision we are taking today on defence readiness … can be nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defence community,” he added.
“I want to make this clear: I am in favour of us doing everything we can to uphold transatlantic cooperation. I consider it indispensable, but we must now do our homework in Europe.
“We must become stronger. We must ensure our own security. That is our responsibility. Germany has a leading role to play in this, and I believe we should be prepared to assume this leadership responsibility.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cheered, calling it “excellent news” for Europe’s defence ambitions.
European countries, who have looked to Germany for so long as the backbone of the EU economy, will now be watching nervously to see how markets react to the historic vote.
