Published: 11:08, March 17, 2025
Budget committee approves Germany's massive borrowing plans
By Reuters
Clouds gather over the Reichstag buidling which houses Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament in Berlin on Oct 10, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

BERLIN - Germany's parliamentary budget committee on Sunday approved plans for a massive increase in state borrowing aimed at bolstering defence and reviving growth in Europe's biggest economy.

The committee convened for an extraordinary session and backed the plans -- agreed on Friday between the conservative CDU/CSU, the Social Democrats and the Greens -- sending them on to parliament for adoption.

The bill, which includes a 500 billion euro ($540 billion) fund for infrastructure and changes to borrowing rules, will require a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18.

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It will be one of the last major acts of this Bundestag, or lower house, before a new one is due to convene on March 25 following an election last month.

"Today in the budget committee we have cleared the way for future investments," Greens lawmaker Sven-Christian Kindler told Reuters.