Budget 2025: Record spending on defense and infrastructure!

Budget 2025: Record spending on defense and infrastructure!

On June 24, 2025, the Federal Cabinet approved the budget for the coming year. This draft budget envisages spending a total of 503 billion euros. Almost 82 billion euros are to be financed from loans, while more than 60 billion euros come from debt-financed special funds. The focus of the draft is on significant investments in infrastructure, defense and economic growth. Deutschlandfunk reports that the high loans are already planned for the coming year.

Particular attention is paid to investments in upgrading bridges, roads and energy networks. Defense spending is also a central issue: by 2029 it is expected to rise to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, which corresponds to the NATO quota of two percent. The draft budget provides 75 billion euros for this alone, of which 32 billion euros are financed by debt.Loud antenna This will provide the Bundeswehr with significant financial resources in the coming years.

Criticism of the budget plans

The chairwoman of the Green Party, Brantner, sharply criticized the budget plans on Deutschlandfunk. She advocates greater investment in defense, but at the same time criticizes the fact that not enough money is flowing into the modernization of the infrastructure. This balancing act between defense and civilian projects is causing discussions within the coalition and beyond.

The Bundestag and Bundesrat will deal with the budget proposal in the coming weeks. The draft budget for 2025 will not only set out spending for the next year, but also present key figures for 2026 and financial planning until 2029. According to the plans, spending on defense and related areas is expected to rise to 97 billion euros next year, which would result in a NATO quota of around 2.8 percent.

Investments in the future

Another important aspect of the budget is the special fund for infrastructure, which is to be filled with 500 billion euros. This special fund is designed to finance long-term projects beyond the debt brake that extend until the end of 2036. Comprehensive investments are planned in civil and civil protection, transport and energy infrastructure as well as in education, research and digitalization with a total of 100 billion euros for climate protection and a further 100 billion euros for the federal states' infrastructure.

The Ministry of Finance has not considered the high level of debt for infrastructure to be problematic, citing the potential economic growth expected to result from these investments. Nevertheless, the high financing requirement is met with criticism from various political parties who believe that the focus is too much on defense spending and too little on social or environmental projects. An exciting year full of debates and decisions awaits to ultimately pass the budget.