New Delhi: Germany’s outgoing Bundestag – the federal parliament – has voted in favor of reforming ‘debt brake’, a multibillion-euro package that loosens borrowing limits and allows new investments in defense, infrastructure and climate, Deutsche Welle reported.
The motion put forward aimed to alter the German constitution and pave the way for a landmark spending bill. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
According to the official vote count released by the Bundestag, 513 German MPs voted a ‘yes’ against 207 ‘no’.
While the center-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens supported the package, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), business-focused Free Democrats (FDP) and the Left Party were against it but failed to stop the vote.
The vote comes days before the new elected MPs take their seats in parliament on March 25. According to the DW report, the amendment will focus on increasing defense, infrastructure spending.
Notably, the controversial bill was crucial for Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, who won the federal election in February.
According to Bloomberg, it has created a potentially unlimited supply of money to rearm to deter Russia. Through this package, the government would also set up a €500 billion ($546 billion) fund to invest in the country’s aging infrastructure.
Following the approval, Merz posted on X, “The approval of our financial package for defense and infrastructure shows that the political center is capable of taking action. It finds solutions – for peace, freedom, and our prosperity. We invest in freedom and progress. But money alone isn’t enough. It’s about more: Germany needs a fundamental #Politikwechsel —and for that, a reliable and effective government. The coalition negotiations are crucial for this. A lot is at stake—the future of Germany and Europe.”
The conservatives and SPD needed the legislation to pass through the outgoing parliament as they feared it could be blocked by an enlarged contingent of far-right and far-left lawmakers in the upcoming Bundestag, Reuters reported.
The legislation will go to the Bundesrat upper house on Friday but it is likely to get cleared there.
