A Leopard tank and a Puma tank are seen at the Munster military base, in Munster, Germany 7 February 2022.;
Credit: Fabian Bimmer / Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has agreed to change its constitution to allow for a credit-based special defence fund of €100 billion proposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the German finance ministry announced on Sunday 29 May 2022.
Germany's centre-right opposition and ruling coalition with centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) said they reached the required two-thirds majority to exempt the defence fund from a constitutional debt brake.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the negotiations were led by FDP leader Christian Lindner, SPD's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Greens leader Annalena Baerbock and the opposition's vice whip Mathias Middelberg.
The money is to be used over several years to increase Germany's regular defence budget of around €50 billion and enable the country to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of its economic output on defence each year.
