The next German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced that Berlin will vastly rearm which has not been seen since World War II.
Merz said the German government is set to massively increase their defence spending by hundreds of billions over the coming years.
Merz said it is possible that future coalition partners from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) want to see a boost in defence spending.
Zeit newspaper reported on Wednesday, “There are moments in which the history of a country takes an unexpected turn,” and the Chancellor’s plans “may turn out to be one such moment.”
Manuela Schwesig, a senior Social Democrat has said she expects Germany will double its defence budget to at least €100 billion a year.
Merz is wanting to set up a €500 billion fund to upgrade the country’s infrastructure which in turn will bring Germany out of their recession.
The Kyiv Post reported, that Sebastian Dullien, director of the IMK economic research institute said if Merz’s plans happen then this could be a “real game changer” which will “overcome Germany’s economic stagnation.”
The Defence Secretary Boris Pistorius said these plans hails a “historic day for the army and for Germamny.”
Der Spiegel magazine reported that as it appears Washington has turned “openly hostile” to Europe it is now Berlin’s “duty as the most populous, most economically powerful country on the continent… to bring Europeans together, to lead them and spur them on in ensuring their own security.”
Jacob Ross of the German Council on Foreign Relations told AFP there is a lot of questions.
He told AFP, “Who is going to build the necessary weapons? Does Europe have access to the necessary raw materials? What will happen to inflation when such sums are pumped into the economy?”
