The Parliament of Germany approved the plans for a massive increase in expenses on Tuesday, eliminating decades of fiscal conservatism in the hope of reviving economic growth and expanding military spending for a new era of European collective defense.
The approval in the conservative leader of Bundestag Hands Friedrich Merz is a great impulse, giving the chancellor waiting an unexpected gain of hundreds of billions of euros to increase the investment after two years of contraction in the largest economy in Europe.
Germany and other European nations have been under pressure to underpin their defenses against hostile Russia and the changes in the policy of the United States under President Donald Trump, that European leaders fear that they can leave the exposed continent.
Get last minute national news
For the news that affects Canada and worldwide, register to receive news alerts that are given directly when they occur.
The conservatives and social democrats of Merz (SPD), who are in conversations to form a centrist coalition after the election last month, want to create a fund of 500 billion euros ($ 546 billion) for infrastructure and alleviate the rules of constitutionally consecrated eyelashes to allow a greater expense on security.
“We have felt for at least a decade a false sense of security,” Merz told legislators before the vote.
“The decision we are making today about defense preparation … It can be nothing less than the first important step towards a new European defense community,” he said.
The legislation still has to go to the upper house of Bundesrat, which represents the governments of the 16 federal states of Germany. The main obstacle to the Paso seemed to fall on Monday when the Bávaros free voters agreed to support the plans.
The conservatives and SPD wanted to approve the legislation through the outgoing Parliament for fear that it could be blocked by an enlarged contingent of extreme right and extreme left legislators in the next Bundestag as of March 25. Merz has justified the adjusted schedule with the geopolitical situation that changes rapidly.