thirtyfold8625

thirtyfold8625@thebrainbin.org · 8 hours ago

The parties hoping to form Germany’s next government have agreed to overhaul borrowing rules and create a €500 billion ($536 billion) infrastructure fund in a tectonic spending shift to revamp the military and revive growth in Europe’s largest economy.

The defense spending increase from $86 billion in 2024 to $120 billion would bring Germany’s defense budget within striking distance of the $149 billion, or approximately 3.5% of GDP, needed for German forces to plug the huge gap in the capabilities of its military to meet national defense needs and commitments to allies, according to the Bruegel Institute.

Leaders of the conservative Union bloc agreed with the center-left Social Democrats to exempt military spending over 1% of GDP from the debt limit, as well as a 500 billion euro infrastructure fund for civil and disaster protection, transport infrastructure, hospitals, energy infrastructure, education, scientific research and digitization. Economists estimate that the measure, if passed, could enable a trillion euros in new borrowing and spending over a decade.

thirtyfold8625@thebrainbin.org · 9 hours ago

https://lonestarlemmy.mooo.com/u/nicole messaged me with this: https://lemmings.world/pictrs/image/1936a27f-ff82-4ec9-9da4-2942c21ad54a.png

thirtyfold8625@thebrainbin.org · 13 days ago

There seems to be a lot of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” discussion today: https://lemmy.world/post/25853254