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Germany’s chancellor-to-be Friedrich Merz has agreed a deal with the Green party to inject hundreds of billions into the country’s defence sector and ageing infrastructure.
“There will no longer be a lack of financial resources to defend freedom and peace on our continent,” Merz said on Friday. “Germany is back. Germany is making a major contribution to defending freedom and peace in Europe.”
Merz needs the backing of his Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), that of his likely coalition partner Social Democratic party (SPD) and the Greens to pass his flagship package with a two-thirds majority in an emergency session of the old parliament on Tuesday.
The three parties no longer command a supermajority in the new Bundestag, which was elected in February and is set to take office this month.
Merz last week agreed with the SPD to loosen the country’s strict borrowing cap for defence spending and to set up a €500bn fund to modernise transport, energy, health and communications infrastructure.
The Greens earlier this week said they would oppose the package, prompting Merz to signal he was ready to make concessions.
The Greens secured the inclusion of civil protection, information technology and intelligence agencies in the defence spending package, as well as €100bn worth of investments into the green transition.
