By Yunus Soner, Berlin / Germany
Germany’s parliamentary election winner, conservative Friedrich Merz, is preparing a massive new funding package for military weapons. The investment requires state borrowing. Possible parliamentary resistance forces the future chancellor into a possible trick.
Following his parliamentary victory on February 23, Chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union announced talks with the Social Democratic Party on a coalition, focusing on migration, foreign policy and the economy. The last two topics add up to just one aspect: military armament.
Daniel Bratanovic, editor-in-chief of daily newspaper Junge Welt comments to UWI: “Apparently, the ruling circles of this country, but also basically all other states of the European Union, are of the opinion that, in view of the world situation and the war situation in Ukraine, this is exactly what should be done.”
US President Trump had called NATO members to establish a military budget of 5% of GDP. In Germany, according to figures for 2024, this is equivalent to 215 billion euros. Bloomberg reports that Merz plans a 200-billion-euro fund for the German army, also in response to the economic crisis.
Bratanovic indicates support from business circles to that plan: “The headline on the front page of the Handelsblatt, the country’s leading business newspaper, reads: Growth through armaments. Germany is therefore supposed to be able to get out of the economic crisis by means of forced rearmament.”
The newspaper reports of economic studies that highlight the contribution of defense industry to overall economic growth.
Spending 40% of federal budget for arms
The sum sounds small in relation to the GDP. A different picture emerges when relating it to Germany’s federal budget: equivalent to 40%.
Within days, other institutions such as the German Economic Institute, Kiel Institute for the World Economy or the ifo institute demanded that the German military needs an investment between 400 and 500 billion Euro.
The conservative politician Markus Söder presented already a shopping list of 100 thousand drones, 800 tanks, 2000 patriot missiles and 1000 Taurus missiles.
No way to stem this from the budget, designated chancellor Merz seeks debts as solution. He already begun contacting other parties about the establishment of a special debt fund. Janis Ehling, General Secretary of the Left Party, agrees to debts, but rejects its purpose of financing armament.
“What the German economy really needs now is actually a large investment program, because the economy has to be re-equipped for all the challenges with high energy prices, with climate protection and also with the entire restructuring of the automotive industry from normal gasoline to electric cars.”
Circumventing elected parliament
His opinion matters, because the constitution limits the indebtedness, and in the new parliament to be formed on March 24, the Left Party and the Alternative for Germany have enough seats to veto the fund. The German press reports that Merz is seeking to approve the debt with the current parliament, where he has a qualified majority.
Julia Wiedemann, director of the international politics department of The Left, calls for a general reorientation: “As the Left has always demanded, an alternative security architecture to NATO. In other words, it is not just a matter of withdrawing from NATO, but of creating a common European security architecture that also tries to do justice to Russia, including many different interests by peaceful means.”
In the meantime, shares of Rheinmetall, the leading German arms producer, have already risen by more than 30% in the past month. If Merz succeeds, the German people will face a huge bill.