Black-red coalition: billions for infrastructure and strict migration!

Black-red coalition: billions for infrastructure and strict migration!

On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, representatives of the black-red coalition presented their plans to strengthen German defense and infrastructure projects in Berlin. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, CSU leader Markus Söder and SPD chairmen Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil appeared together in front of the press to present the upcoming legislative initiatives. Merz emphasized the urgency of the approach and explained the motto of the government's work: “As much as possible, as quickly as possible”. The parliamentary summer break in July places limits on the schedule, which is why quick action is required.

In the first three weeks of his term in office, Merz focused on foreign policy, which included visits to Ukraine and Finland. On Wednesday he also received Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky in Berlin. The government's focus in the coming weeks is expected to be on the economy. At the beginning of March, the Union and the SPD, supported by the Greens, jointly decided to invest a total of 500 billion euros in defense and infrastructure, with 100 billion euros to flow to the federal states.

Reforms in migration policy

A central point of the new plans concerns migration policy, which played a crucial role in the election campaign. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced measures to tighten migration laws. The plan is to suspend family reunification for people with “subsidiary protection status” for a period of two years. In addition, the cabinet decided to end the so-called “turbo naturalization”, which enabled faster naturalization for well-integrated migrants. However, these projects still have to find a majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

Financing and constitutional changes

In order to realize the planned billion-dollar investments, an amendment to the Basic Law was passed on March 18th, which enables loan-financed investments in defense, infrastructure and climate protection outside of the debt brake. The Federal Council's approval took place on March 21st. The changes concern Articles 109, 115 and 143h of the Basic Law and were needed to create a special fund of 500 billion euros. This asset should not be subject to the debt brake and can be used for investments over a period of twelve years.

The funds will be distributed by a future Bundestag, which can decide by simple law what they will be used for. Economic institutes expect this financial package to provide a significant boost to economic growth. All of this is happening against the background that the infrastructure in Germany is in poor condition and urgent investment is needed. At the same time, the debt brake will also be relaxed for the federal states, which are allowed to take out loans of up to 0.35 percent of GDP.

In summary, current developments show that the federal government is taking action on several levels to strengthen the economy, promote investment and reform migration policy.