The agreement reached by conservatives and social democrats with the greens this Friday to reform the Constitution opens a new chapter in the history of military spending in Germany, since it enables an unlimited increase as a reaction to the threat of the Russia of Vladimir Putin and the need for Europe to guarantee its security.
“There is a clear message to our partners and friends, and also our enemies of our freedom: We are able to defend ourselves and we are also fully prepared to defend ourselves “has stressed the conservative and probable leader next Foreign Minister, Friedrich Merz.
The co -president of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, has defined the agreement as “A historical sign.”
The commitment raises a reform of the so -called debt brakea norm anchored in the Constitution that requires that annual indebtedness does not exceed, in moments of economic normality, 0.35% of GDP.
The reform releases from this limit to defense spending that exceeds 1% of GDPwhich implies an approximate amount of 43,000 million euros.
Tim Lohse, a professor specialized in acquisitions of military teams from the University of Applied Sciences for the Economy and the Law of Berlin, has assured that The agreement is “a blank check.”
“The agreed is a possibility of borrowing without a roof”as he states. For him, now a historical chapter opens: “Never before shot the indebtednessnot even in times of reunification. “
Beyond 2% in defense
The green, to join the commitment, have requested that this apply not only to the budget of the Ministry of Defense, but also to Other expenses related to the equipment of secret servicescybersecurity, civil protection or financial and military aid to attacked countries, in clear allusion to Ukraine.
The reform, which needs to be adopted in Parliament by a two -thirds major endowed with 100,000 million euros.
The purpose of that fund, which is estimated that will be sold out in 2026It is to modernize the German armed forces and guarantee support for Ukraine.
Parallel to the creation of the Fund, at the time, the purpose of complying in the long term with the NATO goal that the defense expenditure reaches at least 2% of GDP, which has already been outdated, since the US president has already been outdated, was expressed, since the US president has already been outdated, since the US president, Donald Trump, has asked to raise it to 5%.
The outgoing Minister of Economy, also environmentalist Robert Habeck, defends that the expense must increase until 3.5% of GDP.
The reform agreed this Friday, and that will be subjected to a second and third reading Next Tuesday in the lower house, an almost unlimited expense in defense will now make possible if the Parliament approves it by simple majority.
Investments in infrastructure
In addition, constitutional reform plans have a second aspect that is the creation of a special fund for investments in infrastructure, endowed with 500,000 million euros.
Within the framework of negotiations with the greens to reach a commitment, it has come to separate the two issues, giving priority to the increase in defense spending.
The SPD has rejected it and one of the negotiators, the Prime Minister of the Federated State of Sarre, Anke Re refresh, said that there could not be the impression that there was money for tanks, but not for investments in schools, bridges and roads Maltrechas in the midst of an economic recession.
Environmental demands
The green have been in favor of a debt brake reform for some time that, according to Habeck, started from three premises that have ceased to be valid and according to which Germany received cheap energy from Russia, sold its products in China and could trust that the US He guaranteed his safety.
However, the environmental training had doubts about the proposal of conservatives and social democrats, because they feared that the Special Infrastructure Fund It only served to get investments from the ordinary budget that, in any case, were going to be carried out; and also missing that something was destined for the protection of the climate.
The first point has been resolved by establishing that, at least 10% of the ordinary budgetbe dedicated to investments and that with the fund only additional investments can be financed. The second criticism has been satisfied allocating 100,000 million to the existing climate and transformation fund.
But, for the greens, it is just about A first step for a reform and modernization of the debt brake In what, as warned by the co -president of the parliamentary group of the Ecologists, Katharina Dröge, will continue to insist.
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