Germany votes for historical growth on defense and infrastructure costs

German legislators voted in favor of providing a huge increase in protection and infrastructure costs – a seismic shift for a country that can redo European defense.

Two -thirds of most of the Bundestag parliamentarians, needed for change, approved a vote on Tuesday.

The law exempts the cost of defense and security from the strict borrowed rules of Germany, as well as to create an infrastructure fund of 500 billion euros ($ 547 billion; £ 420 billion).

It is a vote-is a historical step for traditionally shy Germany, and can be very important for Europe, as a complete invasion of Russia into Ukraine is crushed, and after US President Donald Trump has given an uncertain commitment to NATO and Europe’s defense.

However, representatives of the state government in the upper house, the Bundesrat, should still approve the steps – also two -thirds – before they officially become law. This vote is scheduled for Friday.

Friedrich Merz, a man behind these plans, and who is expected to be confirmed by a new German chancellor soon, told The Nort House during a Tuesday discussion that the country has “felt a false sense of security” over the last decade.

“The decision we make today … may be no less than the first major step towards the new European defense community,” he said, adding that it includes countries that “are not members of the European Union.”

In accordance with this measure, the cost of defense will be exempted from the so -called German debt brake – a law in the country’s constitution, which strictly limits the borrowing of the federal government only 0.35% of German GDP.

Merz, whose CDU party won the German election last month, offered measures after winning.

In an interview on Sunday, he specifically mentioned that the United States could return from Europe’s defense and Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that “the situation has deteriorated in recent weeks.”

“That’s why we have to act quickly,” said the Merz public television company Ard.

He decided to promote changes through the old parliament, knowing that the voting arithmetic was now more favorable than after March 25, when the session of the new parliament begins.

The far -right AFD and the extreme left Linke, which spoke well in the elections in February, oppose the plans of the measure.

Merz still disagreed with the German management coalition after the election win, and announced the ambitious plans to create a government during Easter.

However, negotiations on coalition in Germany may last for months.