The Bundestag gives the green light to Germany's major rearmament plan

BerlinThe Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, approved this Tuesday with 513 votes in favor and 207 against (no abstentions) a Constitutional reform to make the debt brake more flexible, anchored in the Fundamental Law, the German constitution. German MPs have thus given the green light to the rearmament plan and the multi-billion-dollar investment package agreed upon last week by Germany's likely future chancellor, conservative Friedrich Merz, along with the Social Democrats and environmentalists. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz voted in favor.

The newspaper Picture He believes that the "most expensive vote of all time" marks the beginning of "a new era in Germany" that opens the door to "X-Large debts." With this decision, Berlin breaks the taboo of austerity, a sacred rule of former conservative chancellor Angela Merkel.

By modifying the Basic Law, the conservatives and the social democrats, with the approval of the Greens, bury de facto the debt brake and allow for the incurring of one trillion euros in debt. The constitutional principle, adopted in 2009, only allowed for a structural debt of 0.35% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the federal level.

In the future, defense spending and certain security policy expenditures above a certain amount will no longer be taken into account for the Basic Law's debt rule. Furthermore, the German Constitution introduces the creation of an extraordinary fund of 500 billion euros over twelve years for additional investment in infrastructure: roads, bridges, etc. Of this investment package, 100 billion euros will be for additional investments aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2045, a condition of the Greens. Furthermore, the federal states are granted greater borrowing leeway when drawing up their budgets.

To approve the constitutional changes, two-thirds of the votes in the lower house were needed, that is, at least 489 votes in favor were needed out of a total of 733 seats in the outgoing Bundestag, which met for the last time on Tuesday.

The Conservatives and Social Democrats, who are negotiating a coalition government, have put their agreement to a vote in the outgoing Bundestag because with the new hemicycle they would probably not reach the two-thirds majority to approve the constitutional change. In the new Bundestag, they would have needed 420 votes in favor out of the 630 seats that will then be available to change the Basic Law, but CDU-CSU, SPD and Els Verds together would only have 413 votes, or 414 if they won the support of the SSW, a regional party representing the state's Danish minority. After the green light in the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, the chamber where the sixteen German federal states are represented, will vote on the changes this Friday.

During this morning's parliamentary debate, Bernd Baumann, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), questioned the legitimacy of the old Bundestag in making this important decision, before the new hemicycle has even been constituted. arising from the federal elections of February 23. Baumann accused Merz of wanting to "buy the chancellorship from the SPD and the Greens."

Merz, the likely future chancellor, defended the massive debt program for defense, infrastructure, and climate protection in the Bundestag. "Such debt can only be justified in very special circumstances and only under very specific conditions," Merz said, referring to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and, therefore, against Europe.

"A new European defense community"

According to Merz, the Bundestag's decision will not only determine Germany's defense capability, but may also be the first major step toward "a new European defense community." "Our security must not be threatened by fiscal constraints," said the current Defense Minister, Social Democrat Boris Pistorius, who defended the multi-billion defense package in light of the current security situation in Europe and the shift in the United States' commitment. "It's up to us: we must ensure our own security and do so in a much more united manner than in recent decades," Pistorius added.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil also defended the investment package: "The stagnation of investment in our country is palpable everywhere. If we don't invest in defense, it's a burden for the citizens. If school roofs leak, it's a burden for the citizens."

"This is the worst electoral fraud that the Federal Republic of Germany has ever experienced in its history," reacted far-right leader Alice Weidel after the vote, accusing Merz of doing exactly the opposite of what he had promised voters during the election campaign. Weidel warned that this debt package will have "enormous consequences for future generations" of Germans.

Christian Dürr, the leader of the liberal FDP parliamentary group, considered that with this vote, the debt brake becomes a "dead letter" and marks "the starting gun for rampant debt."

According to Dürr, Merz will not lead a grand coalition when she becomes chancellor, but rather "Germany's first debt coalition." In response to criticism from the liberals for the massive debt, Merz asserted that the planned amendment to the Basic Law for new infrastructure investments does not reduce the need to consolidate public budgets.