Germany's coalition eyes billion-euro defence boost
In Germany, discussions are ongoing about forming a new coalition government between the CDU/CSU and SPD. Each party supports the idea of quickly establishing two special funds. One of them would finance defence spending, amounting to hundreds of billions of euros.
Individuals involved in the coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD are considering the swift creation of two targeted funds—one for defence and another for investments. According to information obtained by Reuters, these would be worth hundreds of billions of euros. Three different sources have confirmed this.
Germany to arm itself. New government wants to launch a special fund
Economists advising the parties intending to form the new government coalition estimate that at least £350 billion are needed for the defence fund and £350-440 billion for the infrastructure fund.
Friday's uproar at the White House, after which Donald Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to leave and once again sided with Russia, only intensified Berlin's stance. Germany is convinced it must "urgently" respond to current events in Europe. The new government, headed by Friedrich Merz, is aware it must urgently act on defence spending for Germany and Ukraine.
Coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD began last Friday. Each side hopes that a new government can be formed by Easter. Sources speaking to Reuters stated that experts and politicians are discussing details of the two funds, but "no final decisions have been made yet."
Representatives of the highlighted parties declined to comment on the matter, citing the confidentiality of coalition discussions.
Elections in Germany
The parliamentary elections in Germany were won by the CDU/CSU, garnering 28.5% of the votes. The second force in the Bundestag is the far-right AfD, which achieved a historic rise in support, gaining 20.8% of the votes. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) took third place with 16.4% support. The Greens received 11.6% of the votes, and Die Linke 8.8%, allowing them to enter parliament.
The election threshold was not crossed by the BSW (4.9%) and FDP (4.3%).
The early elections were a result of the collapse of the coalition between the Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals, and a lack of confidence for Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
