The conservative Friedrich Merz He has managed to support two thirds of the Bundestag to reform the German Fundamental Law and lift the brake on debt for defense expenses. Germany thus goes to the “war economy” mode, using the leader’s terminology … From the European Popular Party, Manfred Weber, who has recommended this turn for all EU members. Until the last minute, the vote in the German Parliament has been threatened by demands before the Constitutional Court, which have been rejected, and by pacifist skirmishes within the parliamentary groups.
From Merz’s party, the Cristianodemocrata union, the deputy Tilman Kuban He has attached to the text of the reform a personal statement in which he records that he is not in favor, but “I know that if I do not accept the amendment to the fundamental law, our country will be summarized in a serious state crisis.” “The consequences would be a Germany without leaders in a geostrategically tense situation, crazy financial markets and, most likely, new elections with greater strengthening of the populists of right and left, so it would probably only be possible a coalition of Kenya (CDU/CSU, SPD, Greens),” Kuban speculates.
The extremes vote against
The extreme parties, to the alternative right for Germany (AFD) and the left Die Linke and BSW, have voted against, After whistling and shouting during the presentation of Merz. Due to this behavior, the president of the Bundestag, Barbel Bass, has issued a dozen sanctions. But order offenses have given way to solemn silence when the Minister of Defense, Social Democrat Boris Pistorius, has taken the floor to request the vote and give reasons for their convenience. “Our security cannot depend on the situation of the budgets,” Pistorius defended in the extraordinary plenary session of the lower house. After giving details about the security crisis in which the EU is located, Pistorius has stressed that “we are facing a historical reform and our security depends: we need more troops, more armament and that implies more expenses.”
The reform voted for 513 deputies in favor, 207 Against and no abstention, it will allow the incoming government to open an unlimited fund to rearm and another of 500,000 million euros for the new “defense infrastructure.” Pistorius explained that defense capacity depends on both military equipment and ammunition and an infrastructure prepared for emergencies. The details of the operational plan are kept secret, but it is obvious the need for investment in transport infrastructure, both by road and by rail, and the update of the obsolete network of bridges on which the NATO troops in case of conflict would have to move in the case of conflict.
The same applies to data transport, which is essential for modern war. Shield digital communications and extend the radio broadband frequency capacity, which have so far reserved for broadcasting organisms. For combat operations itself, microwave radio on land and satellite communications are as crucial as voice radius.
Among the critical infrastructure, the effort that Germany will allocate to hospitals stands out. The generators depend on the stored fuel, in the case of the Berlin charit for about 50 hours, and a sanitary service is proposed, similar to the military, to supply hospitals in case of conflict, given that a high percentage of medical staff is currently a foreigner and its exit from the country is predictable in case of war. The new infrastructure fund will also serve to provide a new civil protection system, given that current shelters do not host or 10% of the population.
The concept of “War Economy” of Weber It consists of concentrating public spending on these needs and goes much further: it contemplates accelerated approval procedures for the purchase and manufacture of weapons and greater cooperation between European weapons manufacturers and governments. “This can also mean that arms manufacturers will work in shifts on weekends in the future and that companies that have previously produced industrial goods for civil purposes will now be dedicated to producing weapons,” he said.
Although the German population is mostly in favor, both of the rearme and the mandatory military service and the infrastructure update, the promotion of these measures is still a cause of electoral damage to political parties. If today elections were celebrated again, the CDU would lose half a percentage point compared to February 23 and the Greens, who have supported Merz’s proposal, would lose 0.6%. AFD, which has opposed this reform with its votes, would gain 1.2%, to a result of 22%.
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