“A realisation in Europe on the need to spend more on defence and infrastructure has created a positive sentiment, leading to the recent upside in the markets.”
On 4 March, Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, proposed a constitutional amendment that would pave the way for an extensive programme to boost defence spending and overhaul German infrastructure. By employing, in English, the phrase “whatever-it-takes”, Merz made sure there was no doubt about the scale of his intentions.
The country’s politics are getting a boost of uncharacteristic urgency from coming Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with even the constitutional “debt brake” up for grabs.