Germany is scheduled to rearm in a way not seen since World War II after the probable next chancellor, Friedrich Merz said that his government would greatly increase defense expense.
The announcement means that Germany will effectively annul its “constitutionally consecrated debt brake so that it can increase its defense budget by $ 107 billion a year while Europe prepares for a weakening of the United States defense umbrella.
“There are times when the history of a country takes an unexpected turn,” Canon The newspaper said today, adding that Merz’s plans “can be one of those moments.”
The plans were presented on Tuesday as part of the accelerated conversations between the CDU/CSU alliance on the right of Merz and the Social Democrats on the left (SPD) in a possible coalition after the general elections of last month.
His tempo intensified more after Friday’s television row between the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, with the White House and then helps kyiv.
Merz, an Atlantist for a long time that he had previously inspired to finance public spending through large -scale debt, has quickly changed his tone given the rhythm of the events that turn the head.
The EU partners of Germany, who meet for a key summit on Thursday to discuss Ukraine and Defense, had been waiting for Berlin’s action after months of political paralysis since the collapse of the government of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz in November.
Together with the great impulse in defense spending, Merz wants to establish a 500 billion euro fund to improve the crunchy infrastructure of Germany and help take it out of two consecutive recession years.
If the plans are successful, they could be a “true change of play” and also “quickly overcome the economic stagnation of Germany,” said Sebastian Dullien, director of the IMK Economic Research Institute.
The ‘duty’ of Germany
The current German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, has described the plans as “a historic day for the Army and for Germany”, a country that distrusts himself from projecting military power from the horrors that perpetrated under Nazism.
Like him Spiegel The newspaper said that Merz’s position in the campaign is also far from the posture, where he was traditionally attached to the CDU’s image about fiscal policy.
“However, it is good that Merz is breaking his campaign promises,” said the newspaper.
Given the possibility that the United States becomes “openly hostile” to Europe, it was now the “duty of Germany as the most populated and economically powerful country in the continent … to gather Europeans, direct them and stimulate them to guarantee their own security,” he added.
But plans must quickly walk through the outgoing Parliament, where they will need a two -thirds majority to modify the debt brake, most likely with the help of the greens.
Then, the CDU/CSU and SPD will have to mark the rest of the coalition agreement before they can take office and pass the water sums.
Potential conflict
Jacob Ross of the German Council on Foreign Affairs said that the importance of Tuesday’s plans has “much to do with psychology and signs that such ads send.”
As for how huge amounts could be spent in practice, Ross said AFP that many questions remain unanswered.
“Who will build the necessary weapons? Does Europe have access to the necessary raw materials? What will happen to inflation when such sums are pumped to the economy? asked.
There is also the question of coordination with other EU states and with Brussels, where the head of the EU Ursula Von der Leyen also presented a plan on Tuesday to mobilize about 800 billion euros for the defense and support of Europe to Ukraine.
“I think there is a conflict potential, particularly with Paris,” Ross said.
He recalled the reaction to the special fund of 100 billion announced by Scholz following the invasion of Ukraine of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, which quickly sold out.
“At the time [French President] Macron was caught without recognizing and warned that Germany could be ‘isolating herself, “Ross said.
“Now we are talking about more than double the amount of money and, of course, European partners will ask what this will mean for their own economies, for the Eurozone and for the balance of power in Europe. “
