German gov’t hopefuls planning billions for defense spending
BERLIN
German Finance Minister and member of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) Joerg Kukies (L) and Saarland State Premier and SPD Deputy Party Chairwoman Anke Rehlinger (R) leave after talks with the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) at the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus building on February 28, 2025 in Berlin, as CDU and SPD hold exploratory talks on future government coalition.
The two parties hoping to form Germany's next government are planning to plough hundreds of billions of euros into defense and infrastructure when in power, the Bild newspaper has reported.
Both subjects have become all the more pressing for Berlin's prospective new leaders as Europe's largest economy stutters and the United States' apparent pivot toward Russia casts doubt over the continent's security.
Citing several sources close to the negotiations, Bild said on March 3 the investment plan was brought up on Feb. 28 at coalition talks between the conservative CDU/CSU alliance, which came top in the recent elections, and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Both parties are considering the quick establishment of two special investment funds, one for the threadbare German army and another to renovate the country's creaking infrastructure.
The amounts discussed for each of the funds are "significantly higher" than the fund of 100 billion euros ($104 billion) already set aside for the German army in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the newspaper.
Both sides' negotiators looked at economist reports evaluating the needs of the German army at 400 billion euros and that of the country's infrastructure at half a trillion euros, Bild added.
According to Bild both parties are likewise considering relaxing that restriction, seen by a growing number of Germans as a straitjacket ill suited to the challenges facing the country.
But any such reform would require a two-thirds majority in parliament, which the proposed Conservative-Social Democrat coalition would not have in the new legislature.
