Merz's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats – in talks to form a coalition after February's general election – unveiled the plans for vast extra outlays last week and are now racing to push them through the current legislation.

Germany's Greens may refuse to back plans by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz for a massive increase in state borrowing, with a party source on Monday warning "approval is becoming less likely with each passing day".

Germany’s Greens are ready to negotiate and are hoping for an agreement by the end of this week in a dispute over defense spending with the country’s prospective next ruling coalition led by Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz.

Party officials reject €500bn infrastructure fund plan and change to debt borrowing rules to fund defence spending

Germany's Green party on Monday threatened to torpedo plans put forward by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz to invest hundreds of billions in defence and infrastructure. The proposed constitutional changes to ease strict borrowing limits in the area of defence and establish a 500-billion-euro ($542-billion) fund for infrastructure were described as historic when they were presented last week.

Germany’s Green party rejected a debt-financed package that would unleash hundreds billions of euros in defense and infrastructure spending, potentially imperiling the flagship policy of chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz.