Easing the debt brake

After the federal election on February 23, 2025, the old Bundestag voted again on a bill to amend the Basic Law submitted by the SPD and CDU/CSU factions. The amendments to the Basic Law are intended to enable special spending for defense, infrastructure and climate protection. Defense and other security policy expenditure should therefore only fall under the debt brake up to a limit of one percent of gross domestic product. Furthermore, a special fund of up to 500 billion euros financed by loans is to be set up “for additional investments in infrastructure and for additional investments to achieve climate neutrality by 2045”, which should also be exempt from the debt rules. The countries' scope for their own debts should also be increased in the future. A two-thirds majority in the Bundestag was required to approve the draft amendment to the Basic Law. The draft was approved with 512 votes and therefore achieved the required majority. 206 MPs voted against, including Jan Dieren (SPD parliamentary group), Mario Czaja (CDU/CSU parliamentary group) and Canan Bayram (Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group). There were no abstentions. In the context of the vote, the FDP parliamentary group submitted an amendment for a roll-call vote. In it, the parliamentary group proposes a special fund for the Bundeswehr with its own credit authorization in the amount of up to 300 billion euros. The amendment was rejected by 85 votes in favor to 630 against, with two abstentions. A draft bill from the FDP parliamentary group to “establish a defense fund for Germany and amend the Basic Law (Article 87a)” was also voted on by roll call. The bill was rejected by 87 votes in favor to 626 against, with three abstentions.