German lawmakers debate loosening debt limits to spend more on defense as Europe's worries grow

German lawmakers debate loosening debt limits to spend more on defense as Europe’s worries grow

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General view into the plenary hall during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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Bernd Baumann executive director of the Alternative for Germany, AfD, parliamentary group speaks during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and German Vice Chancellor and Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, left, attend a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German opposition leader and Christian Democratic Union party chairman Friedrich Merz delivers his speech during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, listen to opposition leader and Christian Democratic Union party chairman Friedrich Merz during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German opposition leader and Christian Democratic Union party chairman Friedrich Merz, front left, sits between other lawmakers during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German opposition leader and Christian Democratic Union party chairman Friedrich Merz, center, delivers his speech during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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German opposition leader and Christian Democratic Union party chairman Friedrich Merz, right, delivers his speech during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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Alternative for Germany, AFD, party leaders Tilo Chrupalla, left, and Alice Weidel, center right, attend a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany ‘s likely next chancellor urged lawmakers Thursday to exempt some defense spending from the nation’s tight rules on running up debt, an issue of growing urgency as doubts increase about the U.S. commitment to European allies.

The appeal comes amid long-term strains on the debt limits, and the recent shift in U.S. security policy under President Donald Trump, who has demanded that Europe do more for own security, disrupting post-World War II transatlantic relations under which Europe looked to the United States for security guarantees.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who won last month’s German election, is trying to put together a coalition with outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats.

Earlier this month, the two sides said they would seek to loosen Germany’s so-called “debt brake” — which allows new borrowing worth only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product — in order to spend more on defense.

“We must do something now to significantly increase our defense capability, and we must do it quickly and with great unity in foreign and security policy,” Merz told lawmakers on Thursday.

Not PARSE.LY: Friedrich Merz

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From left, Markus Soeder, (CSU), Minister President of Bavaria and CSU Chairman, Friedrich Merz, Union candidate for Chancellor and CDU Federal Chairman, Lars Klingbeil, SPD Parliamentary Group and Federal Chairman, and Saskia Esken, SPD Federal Chairman, take part in a press conference following the exploratory talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD in the Bundestag in Berlin, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Germany’s prospective new government struggles to win support for defense, infrastructure plans

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The two sides also want to set up a 500 billion euro ($533 billion) fund, financed by borrowing, to invest in Germany’s creaking infrastructure over the next 10 years and help restore the economy to growth.

Economists say that if passed, this could enable a trillion euros in new borrowing and spending over a decade.

The plans will need a two-thirds majority in parliament because the debt brake is anchored in the constitution. Merz and Scholz’s parties are trying to get them through the outgoing parliament, rather than the newly elected one since parties that could agree to the plans have just over one-third of the seats.

The parliamentary debate is to continue on Tuesday.

Opponents of increasing the debt brake for defense, such as the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party, say the debate should take place after the incoming parliament is seated March 25 — to reflect the will of the voters.

AfD finished in second place in the election and will have more seats in the incoming parliament than the outgoing one. Its co-leader Alice Weidel called out what she alleged was Merz’s flip-flopping on the issue Thursday.

Merz’s Union bloc party program previously rejected changes to the debt brake, though he had indicated he might be open to negotiation on that point.

“No other candidate for the chancellorship has broken as many election promises in such a short time as you, Mr. Merz,” Weidel said. “You will go down in history as the gravedigger of the debt brake.”

Meanwhile Katharina Dröge, co-leader of the Greens parliamentary group, slammed Merz for repeatedly rejecting the Greens’ previous recommendations to reform the debt brake to ease investment in the economy and measures against climate change.

But Merz and his supporters sought to cast the issue in an international light, citing the security situation in Europe, though he proposed to earmark some of the infrastructure fund for climate protection.

Loosening the debt brake would allow Germany the much-needed ability to shore up its defense as uncertainty reigns across the continent, Merz told the parliament.

“Germany must become capable of defending itself and Germany must return to the international stage as a capable partner in Europe, in NATO and in the world,” he said.