The News
Germany’s conservatives agreed a deal to form a new government with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) Wednesday, as Europe’s largest economy seeks to revive flailing growth and boost its defense spending.
The agreement — which will be put to a vote by SPD members in the next two weeks — comes more than a month after Friedrich Merz’s center-right party won the general election.
Merz has already pushed a major spending package through parliament, sidestepping the country’s constitutional “debt brake” to enable a surge in defense and infrastructure spending.
The “twin shocks” of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and weakening of transatlantic defense partnerships has “intensified pressure on Merz and his SPD counterparts to rapidly form a stable government capable of responding,” Politico wrote.