Merz’s defence investment package in jeopardy as Greens vow to oppose plans

It is 89B € per year in tax cuts. Normal government term is four years...

Thank you for the source. Just need to use DeepL for translation. Seems like the CDU tax cut is 89 billion euros but I'm not sure if that is every year or over 10 years (which is the standard accounting rule for government budget).

The ZEW (Leibnitz institute for European economic research) calculated how the tax plans of all parties would affect the ordinary budget. The CDU would create a hole of over 100b€ per year. Calculated on 10 years it would be 1tr which is the amount of debt Merz wants to take on.

Source (it is in German tho): https://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/gutachten/Bundestagswahlprogramme_ZEW_2025.pdf

https://www.merkur.de/wirtschaft/entlastungen-fuer-steuerzahler-tabelle-zeigt-wie-teuer-die-wahlprogramme-von-cdu-und-spd-fuer-deutschland-sind-93473104.html

It's in German though

Do you have a source on that? CDU is talking about 500B debt over 10 year. That's a lot of tax cuts.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/04/cdus-friedrich-merz-secures-billion-euro-deal-for-germanys-military-and-infrastructure

The thing is they only need to borrow money to fund infrasrtucture because there's nothing left after their tax cuts.

Maybe get an agreement that debt can only be used for hard infrastructure like rail, electrical grid, etc. and defense spending on weapons and military staffing.

True, but Merz wants to use this package for agricultural used Diesel, raise tax reliefs for people who commute to work by car and lower taxes for the gastronomy. You see, people in Germany do not really understand how this relates to defense or infrastructure. That is why the Greens do a really good job here and we can hope they pull through.

In the US that might be the case, but the German system is set up in a way as to force the different parties to make deals all the time. For that you need a working relationship with the other parties and at best create enough trust, to allow laws to pass at different times. In other words a bit of manners goes a long way. That was what Merkel was great at, which made her survive as long as she did. In the US she would have been dead, as she has very little charisma.

The greens have the power to force Merz to talk to The left party. This will result in him not getting anything or in having to actually do a lot of Stuff. Merz really wants to pass this before the new parliament takes place because knows that the left won't go easy on him. If they wanted the greens could demand a lot of stuff and Merz would have to follow it because the alternative for him. Is worse.

But it's precisely not party politics. The Greens even suggested that they could enable a special fund together with them or reform the debt brake. Now, the reality is that the CDU and CSU, as well as the SPD, are primarily favoring their voter base in these special funds instead of actually spending these funds on defense and infrastructure.

Therefore, it is only good for Germany and Europe that the Greens are preventing such a waste of money.

Merz needs this money to allow himself to cut taxes for the rich totaling at 100b/year. Calculated in 10 years, at which the 500b infrastructure investments are calculated, this total to 1tr €. The exact same amount Merz wants to take on new debt. This isn't "investing in infrastructure". This is taking the money of the poor and giving it the rich.

Nah, there's a game that conservatives/far-right have been playing very successfully. Obstructing everyone else, until they themselves come into power which allows them to make themselves look like they do stuff, and then realize their anti-social, anti-humanity policies, while explicitly hitting all parties further to the left with the stick of "responsibility for the state". That's exactly the game that CxU have been playing for the past 2 years. Greens now actually need to protect past progress on climate issues, including e.g. the 49€/mth public transit ticket and heatpump subsidies because Merz wants to sink money into corporate tax reductions, car commute subsidies, and fantastical fusion reactors.

It's also worth mentioning that the Greens position right now is posturing to some degree, so they are taken a bit more seriously by Merz, to at least get some concessions now. Their position right now is likely the most powerful it will be in the next 4 years. Merz and CxU in addition have so far been making just about zero concessions to Greens. And apparently, most of the information flow has been via the media and via voicebox call where Merz promised to include climate protection as part of a wider reasoning, rather than anything concrete.

There are just under 2 weeks until the old parliament is dissolved and the new parliament is formed, so there is enough time to find compromise.

If you listen to why the geens said no to the plans you might underetand it. I don't really trust the CDU to invest all that money wisely so it's better to make more specific rules for what the money should be used for. Right now the CDU could use that money for whatever. Which is why I agree the greens.

This is *literally* an argument uttered by Hitler. The only thing that's missing is the "we need a selfless leader to set things right" part.

Yeah, if I was Robert Habeck I would be pretty pissed indeed.

some basic manners before going into politics.

I don't think manners ever mattered for political success. They might even be a hindrance.

Sure, but now is not the time to be playing party politics. They should put their personal agendas and any hurt feeling aside and vote for the good of the nation. As all politicians should be doing 100% of them time but unfortunately they’re all useless selfish bastards…

Well the Greens already invited Merz to discuss this topic before the elections and Merz and his CSU cronies denied, and now took the Green's votes for granted w/o even talking to them. So, Merz probably should first learn some basic manners before going into politics.

edit: removed a "probably"

"election promises of CDU"? lol They're doing the opposite now than what they promised ~~two~~ weeks ago.

Germany needs the investment, so hopefully they can get an agreement.

The CDU seems to be working to fix all the problems that Merkel caused.

RE supporting the auto industry, when you find yourself stuck in a hole, dig deeper.