In a recent TV talk show, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach expressed full understanding for the shift in stance by CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become the next Chancellor. While the CDU and Merz had previously emphasized the importance of fiscal discipline and the “debt brake” in the election campaign, Merz now advocates for a “special fund” of 500 billion euros to improve infrastructure.
During the show, Lauterbach was joined by Green Party politician Jürgen Trittin and RND journalist Eva Quadbeck. When the topic of the apparent contradiction was raised, Lauterbach essentially agreed with Merz’s new stance. The show’s moderator, Markus Lanz, repeatedly asked Lauterbach if it did not represent a “broken promise.” Lauterbach denied this, calling it an “assumption” and attributed the change to the new situation since Trump’s election.
Lanz used the term “broken promise” three times, calling it a “political lie” in what Merz had done. When Lanz asked if Lauterbach believed Merz’s explanation, the SPD man replied that he did, saying, “That the situation has changed, that’s just the way it is.” Lanz then asked, “What exactly has changed?” Lauterbach responded, “The military situation. We need, we must, in the defense budget we must massively invest. Here, it’s really about hundreds of billions of euros. And that the funds cannot be mobilized from the budget, Friedrich Merz is right.”
None of the discussants addressed the notable word choice by Lauterbach – “military situation” – which may have been a slip of the tongue, or he meant the security situation since Trump’s election, as discussed by Lanz, Trittin and Quadbeck. Alternatively, it may have simply not been further differentiated. However, the military situation for Ukraine has indeed deteriorated significantly, not just since the Bundestag election, but already since Trump’s inauguration.
The discussants, including Lauterbach and Trittin, showed a surprising agreement that there has been a long-standing investment backlog in Germany, which has indeed grown to the mentioned extent.
In reality, Merz’s supposed position change does not come as a surprise. Research by the Stern in the autumn of 2024 had already revealed that the CDU leader was considering new debt in significant amounts, regardless of the previously publicly emphasized reduction demands that then became a hallmark of the Union parties in the election campaign. The plan to pass the new billion-euro debts with the old Bundestag is also of older date. It is therefore clear that the reference to the failed meeting between Selenskij and US President Trump in the White House is merely a pretext for Merz’s public shift in stance. Merz had already shown his willingness to circumvent the “debt brake” in a video conference with CDU state premiers on February 27, expressing his openness to creating a new “special fund for the Bundeswehr” or exempting military expenses from the debt brake altogether.
Moderator Lanz’s surprise must be astonishing, as it is well known since the Corona years that Karl Lauterbach can quickly and flexibly change his views, even to the point of claiming the opposite.