Berlin (EFE).- Germany’s federal parliament (Bundestag) approved a constitutional reform on Tuesday that will allow a historic increase in defense spending to rearm the country.
The conservative bloc, social democrats, and the Greens pushed the amendments to the Basic Law through, with 517 votes in favor and 207 against out of 720.
The changes include eliminating the debt limit for any military spending that exceeds 1% of GDP, about 43 billion euros.
The constitutional reform is the result of an agreement reached last week by the conservative bloc, made up of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Union; CSU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, formations that altogether have 520 seats.
According to CDU leader and virtual German chancellor Friedrich Merz in the parliamentary debate, “Vladimir Putin’s war against Europe” was the “main circumstance” justifying the constitutional changes his party pushed through with the SPD and the Greens.
There was speculation about the number of deputies from these parties who might vote against or abstain, but the 207 “no” votes came almost exclusively from the FDP, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the left-wing Die Linke, and the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).
Rafael Loss, an expert on security and defense issues at the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a pan-European think tank, explained to EFE that the vote was a “military boost” for Germany’s future defense capabilities.
It will also serve to “respond to Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics” and, “most importantly, it will allow for continued support for Ukraine with a high level of financial commitment,” according to Loss.
Criticism against the reforms
Amid Tuesday’s vote, a group of BSW MPs brought out placards denouncing the “war loans” which they said make the reforms possible.
“Not in 1914 or 2025. No to war credits,” the placards read, referring to the First World War.
However, half a dozen appeals to the Constitutional Court, by the AfD, Die Linke, the BSW, the FDP liberals, and an independent MP failed to prevent Tuesday’s vote in the Bundestag, the last of the 20th legislative period.
The conservatives and the Social Democrats, who are negotiating a coalition government, wanted to pass the emergency reform in the current parliament, as the far right and the far left could have blocked Merz’s grand plan that emerged from the general elections on Feb. 23.
The constitutional reform allowing German rearmament had passed together with other amendments to the Basic Law which will allow the creation of an infrastructure and climate protection fund of 500 billion euros over 12 years.
The reform would also give the 16 federal states the possibility of borrowing.
The reforms approved on Tuesday would now have to be approved by the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament), on Friday.
The inaugural session of the 21st parliamentary term of the lower house, which will swear in the deputies elected in the Feb. 23 general elections will take place on Mar. 25. EFE
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