Today, Friday (11/28/2025), the German Bundestag (House of Representatives) approved the 2026 budget, which includes expenditures worth 524 billion euros, excluding private funds for investments in the field of defense and infrastructure. The plans include loans worth 180 billion euros, a figure that has only been exceeded once in the country’s history, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This budget once again records record investments,” Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil announced during the debate in Parliament. “However, it is also important that investments now flow quickly,” added the Social Democrat, who is also vice-chancellor. He also appreciated that these funds would allow the country’s infrastructure to be modernized.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs tops the spending list with €197.3 billion, mostly for retirement payments, followed by the Ministry of Defense with €82.7 billion. The total defense budget, including expenditures covered by a special fund created to purchase weapons and expand the armed forces, amounts to 108 billion euros, 21 billion euros more than in 2025.
Opposition criticism
Labor Minister Bärbel Bas explained that 99 percent of the expenses charged to her portfolio are determined by law and are part of the social rule of law which, she said, “gives security to many people and guarantees stability and social peace in our country.” The Ministry of Transport will receive the largest amount of investments, as 14 thousand million euros are allocated for this purpose from the regular budget and 21 thousand million from the special fund.
On behalf of the opposition, the far-right Alternative for Germany party warned that the budget could be the beginning of a spiral of increasing debt. Party MP Kai Gottschalk said that Germany has become a “financial clown” on the global political scene. The Green Party, also in opposition, lamented the lack of funding for more future investment, while the left criticized the increase in defense spending.
The latter’s party leader, Ines Schwerdtner, claimed that the budget ignored the problems of ordinary people, citing a lack of “affordable housing, good schools, functional childcare, health care, and strong municipalities.”
The budget must still be approved by the Bundesrat, the upper house in which the 16 federal state governments are represented.
DZC (EFE, German Press Agency)