FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s outgoing parliament could still greenlight a new special fund to boost defence spending but reforming strict limits on state borrowing will be deferred to the new one, a senior ally of election winner Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday.
Merz won a national election on Sunday but faces tricky coalition talks and the prospect of an obstructive parliament after far-right and far-left parties surged.
That could hobble military spending at a time when Germany wants to ramp up its defensive capabilities as it faces a confrontational Trump administration as well as a hostile Russia and an assertive China.
Thorsten Frei, a parliamentary leader of the conservative bloc, told Deutschlandfunk radio that Germany had to move fast.
“Very quick decision are needed, quite specifically in security and foreign policy,” he said.
He added that any wider changes to constitutional limits on state borrowing, known as the ‘debt brake’, would not be rushed.
Merz had warned the United States on Monday against turning its back on allies but also urged Europeans to build up their own defence capabilities, saying it was now “five minutes to midnight for Europe”.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Matthias Williams)
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