Merz makes offer to Greens as he seeks to increase German defence spending

Chancellor-in-waiting attempting to garner support for fiscal rule changes before new parliament convenes

Germany’s would-be chancellor has attempted to win the support of the Greens for his proposed fiscal rule changes, offering to expand the scope of defence spending and demanding to know: “What more do you want from us?”

The outgoing parliament is meeting to debate the creation of a €500bn (£420bn) fund for infrastructure investment and radical changes in Germany’s borrowing limits in order to boost defence spending.

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