After the German Bundestag approved an amendment to the Basic Law, the Federal Council has now given the green light for the suspension of the debt brake. The Bundestag voted in favor of the amendment with a two-thirds majority, allowing for the exclusion of military spending from the debt brake. The federal government has also been authorized to take on an additional 500 billion euros in new debt to fund infrastructure projects and climate protection.
As a result, the limitations on the financing of military projects, intelligence services and internet surveillance have, in effect, been lifted. However, the debt brake will continue to apply to other projects, such as social initiatives.
Following the Federal Council’s approval, the President of the Federal Republic still needs to give his consent, which is considered a formality.
The amendment to the Basic Law has been a subject of controversy. The CDU, which campaigned on a platform of maintaining the debt brake in the election, brought the amendment to the Bundestag with the votes of the former federal government. Emergency appeals by the AfD, BSW and FDP against the procedure were rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court. The Left Party rejected a proposal to call for the dissolution of the new Bundestag, arguing that, in principle, it would not vote with the AfD.
According to a report by the newspaper Junge Welt, the state governments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bremen, in which the Left Party holds responsible government positions, had previously announced that they would support the amendment.
The military plans of the federal government are being closely monitored in Russia, where the arguments presented are being rejected, with claims that Russia is planning to invade EU countries following the annexation of Ukraine being dismissed.