Germany’s Bundestag votes in favor of reforming ‘debt brake’ – DW (English)

March 18, 2025

Von der Leyen hails Germany’s approval of debt reform

Germany’s decision to increase public investment and relax constitutionally enshrined borrowing rules to allow higher defense spending is excellent news, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

“It sends a very clear message to Europe that Germany is determined to invest massively in defense,” von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.

Speaking alongside her, Frederiksen said: “As a neighboring country it’s fantastic news because we need a strong Europe.”

March 18, 2025

AfD leader says debt reform is ‘death blow for the euro’

The leader of the far-right populist AfD party, Alice Weidel, has sharply criticized the Bundestag’s vote in favor of reforming the “debt brake.”

“Gigantic debts have been agreed to. The election losers SPD and Greens are popping corks,” Weidel said in Berlin. 

According to Weidel, today’s decision will fall on the feet of future generations, consumers and taxpayers. She warned of distortions in the credit markets, rising interest rates and a “spillover to the other euro states.” 

“This is the death blow for the euro,” she claimed.

March 18, 2025

Greens co-leader says her party has taken responsibility

Green Party co-leader Franziska Brantner reacted proudly to the Bundestag vote in which her party joined the CDU/CSU and SPD in passing the debt brake reform.

“We’ve taken responsibility where others would have chickened out long ago,” Brantner wrote on social media.

“Now it’s up to the CDU/CSU and SPD to show that they can really do it. Climate protection, infrastructure and security will no longer fail because of money. Only because of political will,” she added.

The Greens will be in opposition in the incoming Bundestag, where the CDU/CSU and SPD are likely to form a coalition.

The party had initially opposed plans by Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to ease the debt brake, pointing out that he had promised not to do so before Germany’s 23 February election.

However, in talks to secure their support for the recent vote, the Greens won a promise of €100 billion ($109 billion) in climate investment.

March 18, 2025

Bundestag backs ‘debt brake’ reform

Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, backed several amendments to the country’s constitution that would allow future federal and state governments to take on more debt.

A total of 513 MPs voted in favor of the amendments, while 207 voted against. A two-thirds majority (489 votes) was required for the planned reform.

The changes were made with the votes of the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens, who agreed in principle to the proposals last week.

The legislation now goes to the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, where a vote is scheduled for Friday.

March 18, 2025

Merz could expect ‘blank check’ on defense spending

DW’s political correspondent Michaela Kuefner has said a vote in favor of the changes would give chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz a free hand when it comes to defense spending.

“It means he would have the money to do what he says he wants to do, which is for Germany to take more of a leading role in Europe… spending more on European defense. That’s something that he stressed very much.”

“He effectively has a blank check when it comes to defense spending which is fully exempt from the debt brake once it is above 1% GDP [gross domestic product] which it already is. That would then just require his government to decide that they want to increase defense spending.”

March 18, 2025

AfD chief says Merz’s credibility ‘already completely lost’

Alternative for Germany co-leader Tino Chrupalla has accused the conservative CDU/CSU and center-left Social Democrats of a “spectacle” in bringing the vote on the debt brake before the outgoing Bundestag.

The package has been brought to the old parliament rather than the newly elected one, due to hold its first session on March 25, because parties that were unlikely to agree to the change have just over one-third of the seats in the new chamber. 

Chrupalla said that after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in parliament — paving the way for new elections — the old Bundestag was denied the ability to make far-reaching decisions.

The AfD lawmaker said the old Bundestag was being used to cement the future government because only the old Bundestag had the majority for it.

“What a spectacle you’re subjecting the citizens and our voters to,” said Chrupalla. “The most valuable asset politicians have is credibility. With these embarrassing actions, dear Mr. Merz, you’ve already completely lost yours.”

“The voters feel betrayed by you — and rightly so,” said Chrupalla.

March 18, 2025

Free Democrat lawmaker derides ‘debt coalition’

The parliamentary group leader of the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), Christian Dürr, has spoken, accusing the conservative CDU/CSU and center-left Social Democrats of “unbridled debt-mongering.” 

Dürr accused Merz of putting together “a debt coalition that is prepared to sacrifice tomorrow’s prosperity for short-term electoral gifts.”

Dürr said that, for the fiscally cautious FDP, Germany’s “debt brake” was not a principle of dogma but a means to an end.

“It protects the generations of our children and grandchildren from political incapacity — and, in reality, it ensures that one can still take on debt in times of need.”

Before February’s federal election, the FDP had expressed an interest in joining a future coalition with Merz’s CDU, but failed to get above the 5% vote threshold to enter the new parliament.

March 18, 2025

Outgoing Chancellor Scholz takes back seat during debate

Matthew Moore

Politics can be a cruel business.

Many may be wondering where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in all this? 

The outgoing chancellor is sitting passively throughout this entire debate, occasionally rolling in his chair, or reading on his phone. Planning a holiday perhaps?

Scholz is watching as his rival Friedrich Merz puts one hand on the reins of power. 

If Merz can get these measures through parliament today, he’ll be well on the way to agreeing a coalition deal with the SPD that will see him become chancellor. 

It’s all part of the gradual handover of power but to see such profound changes being decided over the head of a lame duck chancellor is extraordinary. 

March 18, 2025

Green group leader blasts Merz’s conservatives over U-turn

Despite her party giving backing to the proposed bill, Green parliamentary group leader Britta Hasselmann sharply attacked the conservative CDU/CSU bloc for political opportunism.

The Greens have repeatedly criticized the conservatives for changing tack on the need for spending since the February 23 election. Ahead of this, Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats had dismissed the need for borrowing.  

“The conditions today are no different than they were in October 2024,” said Hasselmann. “Everyone knew that this country urgently needed investment. “The Greens and the SPD [center-left Social Democrats] had campaigned together for this.”

“We asked you to accompany us on this path,” Hasselmann said, adding that the CDU/CSU had categorically rejected this.

“You said: ‘There is no need for this in our country.’ After all, we don’t have a revenue problem, but a spending problem.” 

“How deeply you have defamed my colleagues. Defamed them for their ideas and for their struggle to ensure that we invest in this country.” 

Hasselmann cited an investment backlog in municipalities, the railways, and climate protection. “You categorically rejected all of this — and mostly with such arrogance and populism that it made one sick.”

March 18, 2025

Merz calls for ‘major step toward a new European defense community’

Germany’s expected next Chancellor Friedrich Merz has told the Bundestag lower house of parliament that Germany has failed to recognize the precarious nature of European security in recent years — and that it must act now.

Merz made the observation as he promoted a planned increase in borrowing to fund defense spending and revive growth, saying that it would herald a new era for European security.

“We have for at least a decade felt a false sense of security,” said Merz, adding that nothing short of a total rebuilding of Germany’s defense capabilities was needed.

“The decision we are taking today on defense readiness … can be nothing less than the first major step toward a new European defense community, which also includes countries that are not members of the European Union,” he said.

March 18, 2025

Merz faces down heckles from far right ahead of major vote

Matthew Moore

Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor in waiting, began his speech on this historic day to a chorus of heckles from the far-right Alternative for Germany benches. 

One of Merz’ backbench lawmakers shouted at them to shut up.

The schoolyard theatrics are a reflection of the tense mood in the Bundestag today. 

That’s because an eye-watering infrastructure investment package, and the removal of fiscal limits on defense spending are on the agenda. 

And it’s being pushed through in the last day of the old parliament by the man who will most probably be chancellor in the next parliament. In a word: controversial. 

The proposals will allow Germany, as Merz famously said, to do “whatever it takes” to strengthen the Bundeswehr and allow Europe to defend itself again.

But his critics on the far-left and the far-right oppose the plans. The Left party is against remilitarization, as they see it. The AfD agrees on increased defense spending but believe borrowing to do so will crush Germany’s reputation for fiscal prudence. 

March 18, 2025

Merz: Russia is waging war against Europe

Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has spoken, saying that the threat posed by Russia made spending — particularly on defense — increasingly necessary.

The conservative leader said Moscow’s war was not only against Ukraine.

“It is also a war against our country, one that is taking place daily, with attacks on our data networks, with the destruction of supply lines, with arson attacks, with contract killings in the heart of our country,” said Merz. 

Addressing the far-right Alternative for Germany, Merz said Russia was also attacking Europe “with disinformation campaigns, of which you in Germany are now also a part.”

“Against these attacks, we will defend ourselves with everything at our disposal in the coming years and decades.”

March 18, 2025

Debate proper opens with appeal for Europe’s security

After an attempt to have the vote postponed was voted down, the debate proper has begun in the Bundestag with center-left Social Democrat co-leader Lars Klingbeil saying the financial package is necessary because peace in Europe is in danger.

“The Ukrainians are fighting heroically,” said Klingbeil. “We stand by Ukraine. We must now stand up for Germany’s security, which is why the amendment to the Basic Law to address the billions in debt is so important.”

The package is “the largest package in the country’s history,” he added, describing it as “a gigantic package for the citizens.”

The changes would provide relief, strengthen growth, prosperity, and security, he told lawmakers in the Bundestag.

“Europe today stands on the one hand next to an aggressive Russia and on the other hand next to an unpredictable United States of America,” said Klingbeil. 

While transatlantic cooperation was indispensable, he said, “we must now do our homework in Europe, we must become stronger, we must ensure our own security.”

March 18, 2025

Debate opens with Free Democrat complaint

The debate on the financial package and changes to the constitution have begun in the German parliament with the first speaker being Johannes Vogel of the business-focused Free Democrats. 

He began by accusing the conservative bloc of unfairness in holding the vote in a parliament of outgoing lawmakers rather than the incoming one.

“What you’re planning today is to use old majorities to do the opposite of what you said before the election.”

Vogel requested that the vote on the constitutional amendment be postponed. Alternatively, he appealed to the members of parliament to vote against it.

Vogel called the old Bundestag’s attempt to push through the constitutional amendment a “dramatic reckless gamble.”

March 18, 2025

CDU-CSU and Social Democrats almost fully present for vote

Almost all of the Bundestag’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc and center-left Social Democrats have convened in parliament ahead of the vote on the multibillion-euro financial package.

According to parliamentary sources, the conservative bloc is only missing a few parliamentarians. A maximum of five dissenters are expected from within its ranks.

Meanwhile, one Social Democrat lawmaker is missing due to illness, according to the parliamentary group.

The Greens’ parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann said that four of the party’s lawmakers are ill and one has already said they would vote no, but 112 are expected to vote yes.

The SPD, the CDU/CSU, and the Greens — all three of which are largely expected to vote in favor of the amendments to the Basic Law — have 31 votes more in the Bundestag than the required two-thirds majority.