Crucial vote in Germany: amending the Constitution to spend more on defense
The pact between conservatives, social democrats, and greens will raise the debt limit for military budgets.
BarcelonaGermany's lower house of parliament will vote this Tuesday on a constitutional reform to increase spending on defense and infrastructure by exempting these packages from the 0.35% of GDP debt limit set by its constitution. The conservative CDU-CSU, the party of future chancellor Friedrich Merz, and the Social Democrats (SPD), who are in talks to form a grand coalition government, reached an agreement last Friday with the Greens to implement this reform. The vote is scheduled for midday after a debate session.
The pact calls for the creation of a €500 billion infrastructure fund over a 12-year period, including €100 billion for the energy transition and the fight against the climate crisis, a point favored by the Greens. If approved by parliament this Tuesday, the pact will put an end to Germany's traditional fiscal conservatism. Conservatives, Social Democrats, and Greens said Monday they are confident of reaching the threshold necessary to pass legislation to change the Constitution on this point. "I am confident we will achieve a two-thirds majority," said Merz, who won the February 23 election.
However, if the lower house approves it on Tuesday, the reform will still have to go through the upper house of the Bundesrat, which represents the governments of the 16 states that make up Germany. But the main obstacle to that process would have fallen this Monday when free voters in Bavaria agreed to support the agreement. Conservatives and Social Democrats want to approve the pact with the outgoing Parliament to avoid it being blocked by the far-right deputies who will take office on March 25, the deadline for forming a government in Germany.
Merz has justified the constitutional reform and the speedy timeline by changes in US policy under President Donald Trump, warning that a hostile Russia and an unreliable US could leave the continent exposed. The reform will end the austerity imposed by Angela Merkel's Germany after the 2008 financial crisis.
