German Greens champion debt‑brake overhaul and climate‑fund financing

State ministries in Baden‑Württemberg, led by Minister‑President Cem Özdemir, have requested budget extensions totalling billions of euros, far exceeding the agreed fiscal corridor for the 2027 budget.

Four Green finance ministers from Baden‑Württemberg, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Schleswig‑Holstein presented a joint proposal to relax the constitutional debt brake, arguing for permanent borrowing capacity for defence, infrastructure and climate projects and suggesting an increase of the overall debt‑spending limit to 1% of GDP after the current €500 billion special funds are exhausted.

At the federal level, the Greens secured a constitutional amendment that enshrines climate‑neutrality by 2045 and allocated €100 billion from a dedicated special fund to a Climate‑and‑Transformation Fund, guaranteeing that the money is used for additional climate investments rather than tax cuts.

The CDU, however, has lodged opposition, calling for a reduction of the debt quota instead of expanding it.