Germany's massive spending deal in doubt as Greens reject plan
A massive plan to loosen Germany's debt rules and spend hundreds of billions on defence and infrastructure has run into potentially decisive opposition from the Greens, whose votes in parliament would be essential for the legislation to be approved.
The spending deal was struck by the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc, which won February's German election, and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are expected to become the junior coalition partner in the next government.
Green politicians have been warning for days that the massive spending deal does not do nearly enough to address climate change and might be used as a way to finance tax cuts instead of dramatically higher overall spending.
Green parliamentary group co-chairwomen Katharina Dröge and Britta Hasselmann confirmed on Monday that they would recommend that Green lawmakers vote against the package.
"We are in no way interested in enabling play money, and that is why we will not agree to these proposals," Dröge told reporters. "The package will not finance a single euro more in investments in Germany."
Dröge said that the CDU/CSU alliance and the SPD wanted to create a massive fund of borrowed money to put towards things like tax breaks and diesel fuel subsidies for farmers.
The Greens have been demanding more funding for climate priorities and greater commitments about how the money would be spent.
A failure of the spending deal would be a major setback for the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition talks, which are set to formally get under way soon. Any budget agreement between the two parties would be far more difficult without the deal.
Senior CDU/CSU and SPD politicians on Monday expressed confidence that a compromise could still be struck to placate the Greens and get the deal through the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament.
The votes of the Greens are essential to enacting the deal, since Germany's strict balanced-budget rules are anchored in the country's constitution and any changes require a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag.
Greens to be persuaded?
The deal between the CDU/CSU and SPD would create a €500 billion ($542 billion) special fund for infrastructure investments to be spent over the next decade, and enable far higher long-term military budgets by permanently exempting any defence spending above 1% of German gross domestic product (GDP) from counting toward debt rules.
Not long after Dröge and Hasselmann made their opposition clear, leaders in the CDU, CSU and SPD signalled their willingness to negotiate with the Greens in order to seal a deal.
Carsten Linnemann, the secretary general of the CDU, said he expects negotiations over the deal to move forward with the Greens and described ideas put forward by the Greens as "constructive proposals."
CSU deputy leader Alexander Dobrindt, meanwhile, believes the Greens will eventually back down and support the plans.
"This will not be the last word from the Greens," he said. "The security situation requires a different approach. We are prepared to negotiate further."
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil likewise said he expects to find a compromise with the Greens despite their initial rejection of the deal.
"I am not giving up confidence that this can succeed," he said.
Klingbeil said he would seek talks with top Green Party politicians on Monday evening along with conservative leader and prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The parties are hoping to pass the changes through the outgoing Bundestag in the coming days, since the results of Germany's February election mean that assembling the necessary two-thirds majority will become more difficult once newly elected lawmakers are seated.
A deal would then need to be struck with The Left, a hard-left socialist party that has been vehemently opposed to military spending. That would be far more difficult, especially for the conservative CDU/CSU.
Leaders of The Left on Monday announced that they had filed an emergency application with Germany's Constitutional Court for a temporary restraining order to block a possible vote on the proposal, which they described as an undemocratic attempt to cast aside the will of German voters.
Politicians with The Left said they have long demanded major reforms to Germany's debt rules, and urged the other parties to invite them to talks on spending plans.
But Linnemann said he does not believe that the CDU/CSU could reach an acceptable compromise with The Left.
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Ryback: The oligarchs who came to regret supporting Hitler That weekend, Hitler flew south to try to resolve the crisis personally. He summoned Hans Lex, the Reichstag delegate who now headed the Bavaria Watch militia. Hitler told Lex he wanted to discuss, in confidence, a potential coalition. Lex cautioned Hitler that the degree to which the Bavarian People's Party would be willing to cooperate with the National Socialists was limited. For instance, Lex said, he could in good conscience imagine placing '1,000 Social Democratic functionaries' in protective custody—but only so long as they were detained within the parameters of the law and were 'treated humanely.' However, 'one could not,' Lex continued, 'align with Christian values, for example, a terrorist action that saw political opponents randomly snatched and thrown up against a wall.' Lex assured Hitler that Minister President Held had matters in Bavaria well in hand, and he explained that, having won more than 1 million votes in the latest election, Held represented 'a solid and unshakable' political force, supported by the martial force of the 30,000 armed men of the Bavaria Watch. Unable to close a deal, Hitler returned to Berlin. But Hitler didn't need a deal. Instead, he unleashed his own storm troopers—both the SA and the SS—on Bavaria. The Bavaria Watch did not mobilize. Prince Rupprecht did not intervene. Fritz Schäffer was accosted and beaten on the street, then hustled to the Nazi Party headquarters in Munich for interrogation. Held was forced from his official residence, and his family was threatened; eventually, he was forced to flee to Switzerland. With Held gone, the Reich governor assumed full authority over Bavaria. 'With the führer at midday when we receive the latest news from Munich,' Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary on March 15. 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'He will seek to revive the nationalist movement according to his vision.' Held, then newly installed as minister president of Bavaria, moved to action. He prepared for Hitler's immediate deportation to his Austrian homeland upon release from prison. A Bavarian delegation was dispatched to Vienna to discuss the handover, only to be told that the Austrians would under no circumstances allow the return of their native son. Vienna argued that Hitler had forfeited his Austrian citizenship as a result of his service in a Bavarian regiment. 'Hitler is considered as stateless, and as a result of the refusal by Austria to receive him, his deportation is no longer possible,' Held lamented in an internal memorandum. 'The government fears nonetheless that incarceration has in no way sobered or calmed Hitler, rather compelled him to continue to pursue his goals with undiminished energy.'
