German govt to postpone vote on military budget rise

The German government has decided to postpone a vote on a much-hyped €100 billion ($104 billion) investment programme for the Germany army, sources have told dpa.

The plan - announced in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - has apparently been taken off the Bundestag's legislative agenda, they said.

The members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government were "quarrelling amongst themselves" over the plan, said the treasurer of the conservative opposition bloc, Mathias Middelberg.

The conservatives have been involved in the negotiations as they will need to agree to constitutional amendment if the government's plans are to be implemented.

"This concerns the wording in the Basic Law [constitution], but also the commitment to the NATO target of investing 2% of economic output in defence," Middelberg said.

Germany's centre-left government, which is made up of Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, plans to invest €100 billion in modernizing the country's military over the coming years.

As the money is to come entirely from loans, effectively bypassing constitutional limits on German debt levels, the politicians plan to amend the Basic Law.

This requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag, which the coalition alone does not have. Negotiations with the conservative CDU-CSU bloc have been going on for weeks as a result.

The talks were "dragging on a bit," said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour.

The conservatives are insisting primarily on a legal clarification that the special fund will be used exclusively for the Bundeswehr, and not for any other defence-related projects.