In order to end the debate about the debt brake and raise more money for defense, the finance minister wants to repay the emergency loans more slowly. But his plan involves many risks.
Vladimir Putin’s spies are probably not too familiar with the details of the German budget debate. What they may well have reported to the Moscow warlord is that the federal government still has major problems in permanently financing the increase in military spending announced after Russia’s attack on Ukraine: Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is resisting all attempts , to weaken the debt brake, the SPD and the Greens reject cuts in the social sector or in climate protection. The result is a hopeless dispute, while there is still a gap of at least 25 billion euros in the defense budget for the years from 2028.