A majority in the Federal Council of Germany, the Bundesrat, has voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that relaxes the so-called debt brake. This is reported by the news agencies Reuters and AFP.
The debt brake sets a ceiling on how much debt the German state can take on, and it is written into the country's constitution. As the final approval, a two-thirds majority in the Bundesrat was required. Here, 53 members of the 69 members voted in favor in the vote on Friday morning, AFP writes.
The Bundesrat consists of representatives from Germany's 16 states. The second chamber in the political system in Germany is the Bundestag. The constitutional amendment was voted through here on Tuesday.
Now that the amendment has now been voted through the system, the way is paved for a massive investment package of 500 billion euros.
The money will mainly go to investments in defense and infrastructure. The agreement is also expected to have an impact on the Danish economy.
The agreement has on one side the CDU/CSU and SPD, who are expected to form a government together in the near future, and on the other side the Greens.
Markus Söder, who heads the CSU party and is the Minister President of Bavaria, called the investment package "the German Marshall Plan". This is in reference to the plan that helped Europe get going after World War II.
- We must do everything we can to ensure that Germany once again has one of the strongest defenses in Europe and can protect itself, Söder said according to AFP.
After World War II, Germany has been reluctant to spend large sums on its military. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted the then Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to take action. Here he announced additional investments in defense, which brought Germany up to NATO's target of spending two percent of gross domestic product, GDP.
/ritzau/
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