Overview
- The 15-member expert commission said it could not reach a single recommendation and will present three distinct reform proposals to Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil next week, following its final meetings Tuesday.
- Commission members agreed only that the structural-deficit rule remains a useful control and that Bundeswehr spending should be brought back into the core federal budget on a multi-year timetable.
- A Union-aligned plan would keep the structural-deficit cap at 0.35% of GDP, move defence costs into the main budget between 2029 and 2035, and shrink federal borrowing space by more than €100 billion a year.
- An SPD-oriented proposal would extend the defence transition to 2040 and allow an extra 0.8 percentage points of GDP each year for public investments, lifting the overall structural deficit allowance for the state to about 1.5% of GDP.
- A third option from two economists would shift focus to multi-year spending paths, align national rules with EU fiscal limits, and add full employment as a constitutional goal, leaving coalition ministers to weigh legal constraints, debt targets and the risk of an investment gap as they decide next steps.