In the US that might be the case, but the German system is set up in a way as to force the different parties to make deals all the time. For that you need a working relationship with the other parties and at best create enough trust, to allow laws to pass at different times. In other words a bit of manners goes a long way. That was what Merkel was great at, which made her survive as long as she did. In the US she would have been dead, as she has very little charisma.

Merz needs this money to allow himself to cut taxes for the rich totaling at 100b/year. Calculated in 10 years, at which the 500b infrastructure investments are calculated, this total to 1tr €. The exact same amount Merz wants to take on new debt. This isn’t “investing in infrastructure”. This is taking the money of the poor and giving it the rich.

But it’s precisely not party politics. The Greens even suggested that they could enable a special fund together with them or reform the debt brake. Now, the reality is that the CDU and CSU, as well as the SPD, are primarily favoring their voter base in these special funds instead of actually spending these funds on defense and infrastructure. Therefore, it is only good for Germany and Europe that the Greens are preventing such a waste of money.

Nah, there’s a game that conservatives/far-right have been playing very successfully. Obstructing everyone else, until they themselves come into power which allows them to make themselves look like they do stuff, and then realize their anti-social, anti-humanity policies, while explicitly hitting all parties further to the left with the stick of “responsibility for the state”. That’s exactly the game that CxU have been playing for the past 2 years. Greens now actually need to protect past progress on climate issues, including e.g. the 49€/mth public transit ticket and heatpump subsidies because Merz wants to sink money into corporate tax reductions, car commute subsidies, and fantastical fusion reactors.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Greens position right now is posturing to some degree, so they are taken a bit more seriously by Merz, to at least get some concessions now. Their position right now is likely the most powerful it will be in the next 4 years. Merz and CxU in addition have so far been making just about zero concessions to Greens. And apparently, most of the information flow has been via the media and via voicebox call where Merz promised to include climate protection as part of a wider reasoning, rather than anything concrete.

There are just under 2 weeks until the old parliament is dissolved and the new parliament is formed, so there is enough time to find compromise.

If you listen to why the geens said no to the plans you might underetand it. I don’t really trust the CDU to invest all that money wisely so it’s better to make more specific rules for what the money should be used for. Right now the CDU could use that money for whatever. Which is why I agree the greens.

This is literally an argument uttered by Hitler. The only thing that’s missing is the “we need a selfless leader to set things right” part.

Maybe get an agreement that debt can only be used for hard infrastructure like rail, electrical grid, etc. and defense spending on weapons and military staffing.