In the 49th episode of the EU to go podcast, Thu Nguyen discusses with Nils Redeker and Philipp Jäger the extent to which the large German fiscal package - made possible by the change in the debt brake for defence spending and the special fund for infrastructure - can also drive forward the European investment agenda.
The diagnosis made by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi in their reports on the economic situation in the EU also applies to Germany in particular: high pressure to transform, crippling bureaucracy, insufficient defence capabilities and low productivity growth. Now, with a majority of the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens, the old German Bundestag has passed a special fund for infrastructure and suspended the debt brake for defence spending above one percent of GDP in order to tackle these challenges.
In view of the geopolitical pressure and the changed security situation, is this a relief for Germany - but also for Europe? In episode 49 of the EU to go podcast, Thu Nguyen, together with Nils Redeker, Deputy Director of the Jacques Delors Centre, and Philipp Jäger, expert on climate and economic policy, discusses the scope for investment that Germany has created and asks: How well can the new defence spending be reconciled with EU fiscal rules? Can the planned reduction in bureaucracy, which Friedrich Merz also used in his election campaign, really accelerate investment, or is it just a smokescreen for reducing climate and environmental standards? And what exactly does ‘Whatever it takes’ mean for the EU's most economically powerful member state?
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