# ‘A risky bet’: Friedrich Merz criticised over plan to lift Germany’s debt rules

## Germany

### ‘A risky bet’: Friedrich Merz criticised over plan to lift Germany’s debt rules

Chancellor-in-waiting accused of taking part in ‘debt orgy’ after proposing loosening rules to boost defence

### Author: Kate Connolly, in Berlin

Wed 5 Mar 2025 12.21 EST  
Last modified on Wed 5 Mar 2025 12.45 EST

Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, is facing a barrage of criticism from opposition politicians over his radical proposals  to allow for higher defence spending and boost the economy.

The CDU/CSU leader’s proposals for a multibillion-euro package, agreed with his potential coalition partners the Social Democrats, have been described as everything from a “bazooka” to “an extremely risky bet” by economists. He himself has called them vital “in light of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent”.

Merz is expected to be the next chancellor after his party came in first in national elections on 23 February, and he is in coalition negotiations to form the new government, a process expected to run until Easter.

He will seek parliament’s approval next week for the plans, which would give the go-ahead to the relaxation of tight constraints on defence spending currently governed by a constitutionally protected “debt brake” according to which outgoings cannot exceed 1% of GDP – currently €45bn.

This would allow  to raise a potentially unlimited level of debt in order to finance its military and to continue to provide the necessary assistance to Ukraine.

Under his proposals, an additional €500bn, decade-long fund for infrastructure would also be introduced.

Merz’s efforts to squeeze the plans through the existing parliament, where the conservatives and SPD currently have the necessary two-thirds majority together with the Greens – but which they will lose once the new parliament is in place at the end of March – have been described as a race against time.

He has been confronted with myriad accusations from opposition parties, everything from committing voter fraud to endangering the democratic process by rushing his plans through parliament.

The Greens, not part of negotiations for a new government but keen supporters of Ukraine as well as for a spending increase on Germany’s ailing infrastructure, have indicated their support. However, their joint parliamentary leader Britta Haßelmann accused Merz of breaking his promise to not take on more debt.

> “You promised the citizens of this country that there would be no more debt,” she said, lamenting also Merz’s lack of commitment to fiscal reform. “From one day to the next you’ve broken this election promise.”

Die Linke, which has 64 seats in the new parliament, has also questioned the legality of the financial plans, and accused Merz of circumnavigating the distribution of seats in the new parliament. “We question whether the decision on several hundreds of billions of euros by an old parliament that has just been voted out is at all constitutional,” it said in a statement.

The party said it was in favour of relaxing the debt brake to finance investments in infrastructure, but not of a “blank cheque” for defence spending. Merz, it added, had “flouted the will of voters”.

The AfD, which will have 152 seats in the new parliament, having come second in the election, said Merz had “shown the middle finger” to voters. Its parliamentary leader, Bernd Baumann, said the party was taking legal advice over whether it was possible to block the legislation.

The pro-business FDP, which will have no seats in the new parliament, but whose opposition to the outgoing government’s wish to boost spending by taking on more debt led to the administration’s collapse last November, accused Merz of participating in a “debt orgy”. The party’s parliamentary group leader, Christian Dürr, criticised Merz for “already shying away from real reforms before he’s even chancellor”.

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