The first indirect criticism is made by Brussels in the Mertz package, which provides expenditure over 1.1 trillion. euro to Germany.
This does not come from an official EU institution, but from the European Economic Institute of Bruegel (which has the support of European governments and organizations. Although the CDU – CSU and SPD announced their historical agreement to relax (in fact, in fact), and in reality), International markets have welcomed it very positively.
This is because, at last, according to most European partners, Germany used its financial margins to enhance Europe’s defense potential and to combat economic stagnation.
But now it turns out that EU’s recent reformed rules on debt, which Germany itself had tightened, could stand in the way of CDU plans and SPD costs increase.
This comes from a study by the Brussels Bruegel Thought Tank, which will be published today (24.4.25) and is available to Handelsblatt.
If Germany does not create a surplus in its budget, “it will not be able to spend anything from its infrastructure fund because of the EU’s requirements,” the two authors of the study, Bruegel’s leader Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Armin Steinbach from the HEC School of HEC, write in their document.
According to the study, Friedrich Mertz (CDU) announcement that “everything necessary” will now be done with regard to defense spending is nothing more than words. According to Bruegel, EU rules will also set Germany for defense spending.