(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz is open to making concessions to the Greens to secure support for constitutional changes that would unleash hundreds of billions of euros in defense and infrastructure spending.
Military support for Ukraine could be incorporated into the security package, and climate protection initiatives would “naturally” be included in the list of infrastructure projects to be financed by a planned €500 billion ($542 billion) special fund, the conservative leader said Sunday.
“We will hold extensive talks with the Greens,” Merz told Deutschlandfunk radio.
To secure the two-thirds support necessary to overcome constitutional barriers, Merz will need to keep his conservative faction on side in addition to the Social Democrats, but winning over the Greens is likely the biggest challenge.
Greens co-leader Franziska Brantner criticized the agreement reached on Saturday by the Christian Democrat-led conservatives and the SPD, which paved the way for deeper coalition negotiations.
The CDU and the SPD won’t solve Germany’s problems by “throwing money at everything,” she said, adding that the Greens don’t think it’s right to use a European emergency as an excuse to finance campaign promises.
“This is poison for our country,” Brantner said, warning that federal states co-governed by the Greens were very critical of the exploratory paper.
The comments increase pressure on Merz, who has less than two weeks to approve legislation via a special session of the old parliament. In the new Bundestag that was elected in the Feb. 23 vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany will be the second-largest party after doubling support. Together with the Left, they could block constitutional changes.
On the coalition discussions with the SPD, Merz said that “failure isn’t really an option.” Because it’s the only mainstream majority possible, “we’re not only determined to form a government, we’re downright obligated,” he said.
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