German coalition talks focus on massive defense, infrastructure funding

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) started a new round of preliminary coalition talks on Tuesday, focusing on ambitious funding plans for defense and infrastructure.

“I believe today is a very, very important day. I hope that we will be successful,” Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Markus Soder told reporters as he arrived at the parliament. SPD co-chair Lars Klingbeil remained tight-lipped about specifics, citing confidentiality agreements between the parties.

According to local media reports, the parties are considering around €400 billion ($421 billion) for military modernization and up to €500 billion for infrastructure improvements. The SPD is also seeking the allocation of substantial financial resources to enhance social programs and economic competitiveness.

The push for special funds rather than conventional borrowing stems from Germany's strict fiscal discipline rules. The constitutionally mandated “debt brake” restricts government borrowing to a maximum of 0.35% of GDP during normal economic conditions.

Implementing such special funds, however, would require a two-thirds majority in parliament, which the CDU/CSU and SPD would not have alone in the new parliament. Their proposed special funds could be blocked by votes from the Left Party and the far-right AfD party. To circumvent this obstacle, negotiators are reportedly considering having the current parliament approve the funds before its dissolution on March 25.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU alliance won 28.5% of the vote in the Feb. 23 general elections, establishing a clear lead over other parties but failing to achieve an absolute parliamentary majority.

The Social Democrats, despite recording their lowest historical result at 16.4%, have positioned themselves as a crucial coalition partner. Together, the parties would command 328 seats in the Bundestag, comfortably surpassing the 316-seat requirement for a governing majority.