Germany is ready to modify its constitution to abandon the stringent rules of austerity of the country and thus support national rearmament. And he intends to do it with a stratagem: continue to rely on the outgoing deputies instead of those just elected in the recent elections of 23 February.
The reform
The Cancellor in pectore Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU/CSU, is carrying out a race against time to have the debt reform approved by the outgoing parliament and a new fund for infrastructures of 500 billion euros. A move that, however, depends on the support of the Greens and could be hindered by the nation judges.
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The revision of the limits to the state debt sanctioned by the German Constitution, known as the “debt brake”, would mark the end of the measures introduced after the 2008 global financial crisis, which many now consider an obsolete tax force shirt. Merz wants to amend the Constitution to exempt the expenses for the defense greater than 1 percent of GDP and intends to entrust to a commission the development of larger reform proposals to stimulate investments permanently.
Right and left against
However, the extreme right of alternative for Germany (AFD) and the radical left Die Linke have ensured more than a third of the Bundestag seats in the elections, thus acquiring the power to block the constitutional modification in the next legislature, which would require the support of two thirds of the classroom.
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However, Merz stressed that deputies can still act in the current legislature, which technically can last until March 24th. It is an unusual but allowed move, even if in the past it has been used only for emergency issues. Different experts in German constitutional law believe in any case they are unlikely that there are legal obstacles to the operation.
“From a constitutional point of view, the old Bundestag is fully able to act until his last session,” said Kubo, professor of right at the University of Heidelberg, at the Financial Times shortly after the elections. “If you want to use the last days of a legislature for an important political project, in this case a constitutional amendment, it is only a political question,” he added.
Greens decisive
With the CDU and socialists of the SPD of Olaf Scholz favorable to the reform, the outgoing Bundestag, however, also needs the support of liberals and green, the latter still skeptical.
A first parliamentary hearing on the various expenditure proposals is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday 13 March), while the final vote is expected for next Tuesday: this means that the conservatives and the SPD have less than a week to find an agreement with the Greens. “The interviews are underway, and this is good,” said ecologists leader Franziska Brantner on radio Deutschlandfunk. But when he was asked if it was possible to reach an agreement, he replied: “I don’t know. We will see at the end”.
Merz reiterated the urgency to increase the expense for the defense. After winning the elections last month, he said that “five minutes to midnight” is missing in Europe, claiming that hostile Russia and unreliable United States could leave the continent exposed to risks.
