Transcript of the speech on the mega-debt resolution

„Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, wir wollen heute eine sehr weitreichende Herr Brandner, Entschuldigung, dafür kriegen Sie jetzt einen Ordnungsruf. Wir wollen heute eine sehr weitreichende von vielen Menschen in unserem Land auch mit erheblichen Sorgen begleitete Entscheidung treffen.

We understand the concerns, we understand the criticism, but some of the accusations we have heard in recent days, ladies and gentlemen, and which have also been repeated here this morning in the debate on points of order, are simply inaccurate. There is no new state objective provision in the Basic Law. And it may have escaped your attention, ladies and gentlemen of the AfD, that the protection of the natural foundations of life has been a priority for more than 30... Ladies and gentlemen of the AfD, let me start again.

It may have escaped your attention that the protection of the natural foundations of life has been a constitutional mandate in Article 20a of the German Basic Law for over 30 years. And, ladies and gentlemen, the Federal Constitutional Court made a decision in spring 2021 that this also includes climate protection and climate neutrality. So, if the word climate neutrality appears again today in a back section of the Basic Law, then this is simply wrong, contrary to what you claim here and what you have tried to associate with uncertainty among the population in recent days.

It is not a new national objective. There is no change to the foundations of our constitution on this issue. Now, ladies and gentlemen, defense spending that is no longer subject to the debt brake above one percent of our gross domestic product and a special fund that will allow up to 500 billion euros in new debt over the next twelve years for additional investment in our infrastructure is nevertheless, let me put it this way, a major change for our future, a major change for the future of future generations.

And such debt can only be justified under very specific circumstances and under very specific conditions. The circumstances, and Mr. Klingbeil has just pointed this out once again, are determined above all by Putin's war of aggression against Europe. It is a war against Europe and not just a war against the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Even if you see it differently here and there, it is a war against our country that is taking place every day, with attacks on our data networks, with the destruction of supply lines, with arson attacks, with contract killings in the middle of our country, with the spying on barracks, with disinformation campaigns, of which you in Germany are now also a part, with the systematic misleading and deception of our society and, ladies and gentlemen, with the attempt to divide and marginalize the European Union. And we will defend ourselves against these attacks on our open society, against these attacks on our freedom, which you are also constantly making in your interjections, with everything we have at our disposal in the coming years and decades, ladies and gentlemen. And please take it seriously that we are also saying this to you.

In our society, we have believed ourselves to be in a false sense of security for at least a decade, probably much longer. Now we have to rebuild some of our defense capabilities from scratch. With a technology-driven defense and procurement strategy, with automated systems, with independent European satellite surveillance, with armed drones and with many modern defense systems and, above all, with reliable and predictable orders that should go to European manufacturers whenever possible, ladies and gentlemen.

This is now the paradigm shift in defense policy that we are facing. And allow me to say in this context that it is not only our country's defense capability in the coming years and perhaps in the coming decades that will depend on our decision today. Our allies in NATO and the European Union are looking to us today, as are our adversaries and the enemies of our democratic and rules-based order.

For that is the order, our political order, which we have had for 35 years in a reunified Germany in freedom and peace, in prosperity and with steadily increasing social security. And it is a coincidence, but it is an interesting coincidence, that we are making such a decision today, on March 18, 2025, on the day you have reminded us of, Madam President, this morning, 35 years ago, when the only directly elected and freely elected parliament of the then still existing GDR was elected. It is a nice coincidence that we can also remember this today in this context.

And your interjection shows precisely your understanding of history, that the one has nothing to do with the other. That is your view of the world and that is what deeply divides us, ladies and gentlemen of this parliamentary group. We have nothing, absolutely nothing in common with the world view you are expressing here.

Now we cannot do this defense alone. Today, we can only do it together with the Americans in NATO. But step by step, we want to be able to do it better ourselves through a European defense.

And ladies and gentlemen, that is why this decision today, and I will also try to put it into context, this decision that we are taking today on defense readiness in the broadest sense for our country, can therefore be nothing less than the first major step towards a new European defense community. A defense community that also includes countries that are not members of the European Union, but which are very much interested in building this common European defense together with us, such as countries like Great Britain and Norway. This is precisely where we stand today with the decision we want to take today.

Ladies and gentlemen, just like the expenditure on defense, the planned credit-financed expenditure on infrastructure can only be justified under the given circumstances and only under the conditions that we are jointly formulating here. We know that we have a need to renew our infrastructure that has been building up for years, if not decades. But I would like to expressly underline what Mr. Klingbeil has just said in his speech.

Money alone does not solve the problem. The investments in infrastructure made possible by today's amendment to the Basic Law will also not reduce the need to consolidate public budgets. The opposite is true.

Rising debt triggers rising interest rates, and rising debt also calls for repayment plans. This means that the federal government, the federal states and the municipalities will be under considerable pressure to consolidate in the coming years. At this point, I would like to explicitly mention an example from the municipalities that makes it clear to us what tasks we have to perform.

I come from North Rhine-Westphalia. The municipalities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia receive a total of 15 billion euros in tax revenue from the fiscal union with the state - for example in 2023, these are the figures we have. Of these 15 billion euros in tax revenue from the municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia, 13 billion euros will flow into social policy, into social expenditure, which the municipalities will have to carry out for the most part on the basis of federal regulations.

Ladies and gentlemen, this cannot continue. If we want to give the municipalities in Germany more freedom again, then we need to change these legal foundations. I would like to add a second point, even if this truth may be somewhat uncomfortable on this particular day.

But together we must find new answers to the advancing challenges of an ageing society. To put it even more clearly, the financial burdens that arise from this cannot be borne by the younger generation alone, which we are currently expecting to take on a considerable amount of additional debt. So, whether we like it or not, the decision we are taking today also means that we are facing a comprehensive modernization of our community.

Allow me to take this opportunity to reiterate what I said last Thursday from this point on Friday. The proposals presented a few days ago in an interim report by the Initiative for a State Capable of Acting under the auspices of the Federal President can, ladies and gentlemen, provide us with important guidance. They are proposals that basically call into question many of the things we have become accustomed to in recent years and decades.

But much of what we have become accustomed to in recent years is no longer sustainable in the country we live in today. We need a technological boost. We need a radical change in planning and approval procedures.

We need a real reduction in the excessive bureaucracy in our country. Incidentally, the European Union must also make a significant contribution to this. Germany cannot do this alone.

This must also be achieved together in Europe. Perhaps I might add that the European Commission, which you so often criticize, and the President of the European Commission, who you also so often criticize, have recently set out to put forward comprehensive proposals in the Commission and the European Council, which will then also require the approval of the European Parliament. I appeal to those who have representatives in the European Parliament, from the Social Democratic parties, from the Liberal parties, from the Green parties and, of course, from the Christian Democratic party family, to vote in favor of these proposals from the European Commission in the European Parliament now, so that a reduction in bureaucracy is also possible in Germany, ladies and gentlemen.

So if we combine the restoration of our defence capability with the modernization of our infrastructure and at the same time meet the citizens' justified demand that they once again encounter a state that is capable of acting, ladies and gentlemen, or even better, a state that is capable of acting, then the amendments to the Basic Law that we are proposing to you today can be well justified. Let me conclude by saying this. Yes, of course we are wrestling, many of us are wrestling, with such a far-reaching step.

Aber die Lage, vor der wir stehen, die Probleme, die wir gemeinsam lösen müssen, die großen Herausforderungen, die durch die Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik auf uns in den letzten Jahren zugekommen sind und die sich in den letzten Wochen für uns alle noch einmal drastisch verschärft haben, meine Damen und Herren, wenn wir diese Lage betrachten, dann können wir die Grundgesetzänderungen am heutigen Tag, ich sage es für mich, ich sage es auch für die Kolleginnen und Kollegen meiner Fraktion, jedenfalls ganz überwiegend, dann können wir die Grundgesetzänderungen des heutigen Tages mit gutem Gewissen beschließen. Sie eröffnen eine Perspektive für unser Land, die in der Zeit, in der wir heute leben, dringend geboten ist. Herzlichen Dank.“