The Ugly Cost of Germany’s $210 Billion US Independence Bazooka
Friedrich Merz’s reluctance to reform the debt brake and flirtation with the far-right have come back to bite him.
German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has no good options to beef up the country’s threadbare military.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Fresh from winning Sunday’s federal election, Germany’s conservative Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz is mulling using the outgoing parliament to approve €200 billion ($210 billion) of new borrowing to beef up the military. Merz shares the blame for having to consider such an ugly political maneuver, yet it might be the least-bad option to rebuild the country’s threadbare armed forces. And it’s a reminder that Germany’s constitutionally enshrined so-called debt-brake is long past its sell-by date.
Merz’s victory was tarnished by surging support for the far-right Alternative for Germany and the Left party. Together, these radicals will have a blocking minority when the new parliament first convenes at the end of March, leaving a mainstream coalition short of the necessary votes to revise or scrap the brake. Hence, Merz is toying with the idea of asking the old parliament — where moderate parties have the requisite two-thirds majority to approve constitutional amendments — to pass the spending boost.