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Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz speaks during the debate Alamy Stock Photo

Next German leader warns of Russia's 'war against Europe' as MPs pass historic defence deal

The €500 billion package will go towards defence and infrastructure.

GEMRANY’S PARLIAMENT HAS passed a huge defence and infrastructure investment package proposed by chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz to form the country’s response to geopolitical upheaval.

MPs voted by a margin of 513 against 207 for a deal worth hundreds of billions of euros, which required a relaxation of a key rule requiring balanced budgets.

Known as the debt brake, it had been originally enshrined in the German constitution in 2009 by Angela Merkel’s government amid that era’s economic crash.

Merz’s CDU/CSU and their likely future coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), plan to exempt defence spending from Germany’s strict debt rules and to set up a €500 billion fund for infrastructure investments over 12 years.

The hastily drawn plans represent a radical departure for a country traditionally reluctant to take on large amounts of debt or to spend heavily on the military given the horrors of its Nazi past.

A fifth of the package will go towards climate-protection measures following a deal with the Greens to get the budget over the line.

Screenshot (90) Friedrich Merz, centre, reacts after the debate about loosening Germany's debt rules in the Bundestag in Berlin. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Merz has promoted what has been dubbed an “XXL-sized” funding package as concerns grow that the United States’ decades-old commitment to European defence is faltering.

Merz warns of Russia’s ‘war against Europe’

Merz’s CDU were the winners of last month’s general election, with it set to be the first time the party will return to power since Merkel was chancellor.

Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), spoke strongly about Russia as he urged MPs in the Bundestag to pass the spending package, warning that they were conducting a “war of aggression against Europe”.

“It is a war against Europe and not just a war against the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Merz told parliament ahead of the vote.

They hope to push the measures through the legislature at a time when US President Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia and hostility towards Ukraine have shaken Europe and cast doubt over the future strength of transatlantic ties.

Merz said transatlantic ties were “indispensable” but Europe needed to do more to ensure its own security and Germany should play a leading role.

He has previously outlined that an “absolute priority” of his time as German leader would be to strengthen Europe so that it can “achieve independence from the US”, in light of the Trump presidency.

Speaking today, Merz said the spending boost is “nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defence community” that could also include non-EU members like Britain and Norway, he added.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, from the SPD of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, justified the mega-spending by saying “we are facing a new era for Europe, for Germany, for NATO, and for future generations”.

He argued that boosting defence on the continent will strengthen the trans-Atlantic alliance in the long term “and place it on two legs, namely North America and Europe”.

Criticism of the plan

But instead of waiting until the new government is formed, the parties wanted to get the spending plans approved by the outgoing parliament.

While this was technically legal, it prompted criticism that they were acting undemocratically by opponents on either side of the political spectrum.

The CDU/CSU and SPD were relying on the support of the Greens to help them reach the two-thirds majority required to modify the debt brake.

The Greens had threatened to withhold their support but a deal was struck late last week with Merz agreeing that €100 billion of the infrastructure fund will be dedicated to climate-protection measures.

In the next Bundestag, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the left-wing Die Linke – which both oppose the plans – would have had the numbers needed to block the package.

While Die Linke had traditionally voiced criticism of the debt brake, it had voiced discomfort and anger at the defence segment of the package.

Bernd Baumann of the AfD accused Merz of ignoring the will of voters by seeking to push the vote through the old parliament.

“The new Bundestag is the legitimate one” because “it has new majorities that the people want”, Baumann said.

Lars Klingbeil of the SPD said that the massive new spending aims to “maintain peace in Europe” but also “invest in advancing the economy and strengthening social cohesion”.

He said the massive spending, “perhaps the largest package in the history of our country” would therefore also help counter “division and polarisation”.

The measures must also still be voted through the upper house of parliament on Friday, where they also require a two-thirds majority.

Coalition negotiations will then continue between the two big parties, with Merz aiming to have a government in place by Easter on April 20 or soon after.

Merz is likely to become chancellor when the new parliament will vote on his appointment on April 23.

With reporting by © Agence France-Presse

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    Mute Séan Ó Nuanáin
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    May 15th 2019, 9:39 PM

    Should be removed from his job

    323
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    Mute Humphrey Harold Haddington
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    May 15th 2019, 10:09 PM

    @Séan Ó Nuanáin: And replaced by who, The whole government needs to be removed, but then who do we replace them with, Ff/Sf/Lab/indp……. They are all unqualified and incapable of running the country…. Id nearly give the healy-reas a go on their own at running the country at least they are successful business people!

    81
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    Mute Humphrey Harold Haddington
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    May 15th 2019, 10:12 PM

    @Humphrey Harold Haddington: i take back the part i said about the healy-rae’s…. But you get my point

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    Mute John Considine
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    May 15th 2019, 10:23 PM

    @Humphrey Harold Haddington: Fair play on that retraction and I do believe I get your point. Which to me raises the following question, not just for you, but generally; if there was party brave enough to actually run on civil service reform and to take on the epic battle of explaining why that is so important, would you go out of way to support them?

    18
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    Mute Amused Bystander
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    May 15th 2019, 10:28 PM

    @Humphrey Harold Haddington: thank god you came to your senses…

    9
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    Mute Humphrey Harold Haddington
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    May 15th 2019, 10:36 PM

    @John Considine: yes i would.

    8
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    Mute Dave Harris
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    May 16th 2019, 8:58 AM

    @Humphrey Harold Haddington: Simon Harris got the job of health minister as a reward for supporting Enda bloody Kenny, not because he was suitable or capable of doing the job. He needs to be removed.

    7
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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    May 15th 2019, 9:58 PM

    Irish nurses work 13 hrs a day, including 30mins hand over both sides of their shift, Spanish nurses work 8hrs a day, only for the fact that we employ so many Indians who are so diligent the health system would collapse.

    108
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    Mute Humphrey Harold Haddington
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    May 15th 2019, 10:16 PM

    @Charles Coughlan: That means nurses here work 65 hours a week for 35 grand a year, ridiculous no wounder all our nurses are emigrating.

    75
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    Mute Brendan Kernan
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    May 15th 2019, 10:17 PM

    @Charles Coughlan: how many hours per week. Many nurses happy to work those hours for a 34 day per week and have 3-4 days at home

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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    May 15th 2019, 10:50 PM

    @Brendan Kernan: I’ve been in the Mercy Hospital for the last 9 days, 6 of these in the ICU, discussed this with many of them, over worked, spend the next day in bed, the drive to and from home takes another 90 mins, they don’t complain but you can see they are visibly tired.

    25
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    Mute sean
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    May 15th 2019, 10:03 PM

    We need less administrators on high salaries doing half a job and more nurses on higher wages saving lives. Hospitals are for livesavers and patients, not expensive paper pushers. Complete overhaul of system needed. Scary how little nurses make for the job they do.

    128
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    Mute Dave Harris
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    May 16th 2019, 9:03 AM

    @sean: Most of the middle management spend their time trying to push hair brained schemes past the other middle managers – and the rest of the time covering their own arses. They clearly have poor understanding of the people the are supposed to be looking after and the way front line staff do their jobs.

    13
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    Mute Martin Critten
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    May 15th 2019, 9:58 PM

    As usual Fine Gael’s freemarket ideology is costing more on so many levels. Get back to basics, employ those you need giving them and patients some dignity and cut out the wastage on agency staff (we all know that’s yet another transfer of State money to profiteers).

    87
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    Mute Brendan Kernan
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    May 15th 2019, 10:48 PM

    @Martin Critten: agency staff are human too.

    12
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    Mute Sean
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    May 15th 2019, 10:34 PM

    This government ignores the experts and all sound advice from within and ploughs ahead regardless. This applies to broadband, health, housing and just about everything else. Then, when it all goes wrong, they say it couldn’t have been expected. Then they repeat the same mistake again as they are doing here. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

    55
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    Mute Christopher Byrne
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    May 15th 2019, 10:19 PM

    Simple, all the moola has been blown on the children’s hospital….

    65
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    Mute Geraldyn Swanepoel
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    May 15th 2019, 10:56 PM

    This Minister needs to go now

    38
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    Mute Dan Black
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    May 15th 2019, 11:03 PM

    As I’ve mentioned on previous articles, Harris is not fit for office. This man has never had a full time job in his life ( aside from the junket he’s now part of) yet he is our minister for health. He is completely incompetent of fulfilling this role yet there he is. Roll on the next general election. ( Although I’ve a sinking feeling that the sheep will follow the flock yet again)

    48
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    Mute Dave Harris
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    May 16th 2019, 9:12 AM

    @Dan Black: remember how Harris got that job? As a reward for supporting Enda Kenny in a leadership vote. Not because he was suitable or competent, just for his snivelling loyalty

    13
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    Mute TheTrustedChalice
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    May 15th 2019, 9:39 PM

    Harris is a disgusting creature.

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    Mute John Considine
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    May 15th 2019, 10:11 PM

    @TheTrustedChalice: Yeah, I don’t think there’s any need to go there man. All that sort of pointless invective does is alienate people who would otherwise be inclined to agree with your general point. I mean, if anyone in this country believes it’s sensible that the HSE pays agency rates to “fill in” for obviously permanent positions then they shouldn’t be allowed in charge of a charity bake sale, much less the Health Service.

    I would argue that this is much more a case of the tail (Civil Service) wagging the dog (Minister in Charge) than any sort of inherent corruption or ideological malice. Which means that focusing on personality politics does literally nothing to address the actual issue here, which is that our civil service is almost entirely out of the control of their elected leadership. I genuinely wish it was as simple as Simon Harris being a disgusting creature, but we both know it isn’t. Right?

    40
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    Mute sean
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    May 15th 2019, 10:37 PM

    @John Considine: I dunno….you reckon Michael O’Leary would put up with it??

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    Mute Sean
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    May 15th 2019, 10:39 PM

    @John Considine: That adjective is not suitable. He’s not disgusting. He seems like a nice enough chap. He reminds me more of a friendly puppy type of personality though. You ask him to fetch your slippers but he just jumps up on you with muddy paws and licks your face. Harmless but useless.

    17
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    Mute Bryan Kelly
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    May 15th 2019, 10:49 PM

    @Sean: Repeatability politics is a trap. His behaviour as minister, and his treatment of his critics had been 100% disgusting. It’s not an invective, it’s an accurate descriptor. Asking nicely for our TDs to stop destroying the country hasn’t been working too well since the foundation of the state. Stop treating these parasites more nicely than they treat the people they supposedly represent.

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    Mute Bryan Kelly
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    May 15th 2019, 10:45 PM

    They……already did this? The moratorium under Croke Park. And what the opposition are saying will happen is exactly what did happen then. Increased reliance on agency staff meant payroll costs were higher than if they’d granted new contracts.

    Are they gonna do the other ridiculously moronic thing they did with the moratorium as well where the freeze doesn’t apply to internal promotions. Nurse numbers dropped 10% during austerity while senior management numbers rose 6%.

    Those who don’t learn the lessons and all that. We’ve a government of TDs who can’t see the forest for their balance sheets. If the pretty numbers say you’re saving money then to hells with the reality.

    28
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    Mute Nuala Mc Namara
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    May 15th 2019, 11:54 PM

    HSE spent €82.5m on agency staff in 2010 however by 2018 the spend on agency staff had escalated to €318m…..a 246% increase!
    Privatisation of healthcare at higher costs is not the correct solution to retention and recruitment crisis in healthcare because the problems are caused by bad policies,not listening to concerns/solutions from healthcare staff&plus having no URGENT EMERGENCY RESPONSES to National emergency in health!

    16
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    Mute Adrian
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    May 15th 2019, 10:50 PM

    Harris is a national embarassment in that job. They’re all very poor but harris is the most damaging.

    39
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    Mute Adrian
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    May 15th 2019, 10:58 PM

    In the middle of a housing crisis with records homeless and a public health crisis with record waiting lists and people going up north and abroad for treatment, i hear that in certain parts of the country, the local council has recently just managed to completely resurface the same stretch of road twice in about as many months.

    17
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    Mute Ian McNulty
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    May 15th 2019, 11:13 PM

    Seriously, what is this government doing to the health system, we know it was bad / broken but it’s getting worse day by day, S Harris is incompetent & needs to be sacked, not walk away with a massive pay out & pension, sacked!
    But no doubt, Leo will come riding in on his horses& Dave him again.
    The sick are getting sicker & the TD’s creaming us.

    24
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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    May 15th 2019, 11:48 PM

    But aren’t large numbers of doctors and especially nurses leaving the HSE each week?

    10
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    Mute Padraic O Sullivan
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    May 15th 2019, 10:09 PM

    We definitely need more ‘ Dr Nick Riviera’ doctors

    8
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    Mute @mdmak33
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    May 15th 2019, 11:55 PM

    My God it gets worse every day, this is a result of the ridiculous overspend on the NCH but Harris will not admit it,I will say it again, FG are the cause of many many loss of life of loved ones,through ignorant arrogance and lack of empathy, they dont give a

    18
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    Mute Michael
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    May 15th 2019, 10:45 PM

    Fine Gael the party that couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery and fianna fail the little lap dogs just to be in gov…there has to be something else bar them or SF or labour…

    21
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    Mute Justin Hanley
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    May 16th 2019, 9:48 AM

    Harris is a moron and a waste of space .

    4
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