BERLIN (Reuters) – A senior Greens legislator said there would still be a sufficient, albeit different, majority to reform Germany’s debt brake once the newly elected parliament had been seated, in an indication they might continue to block conservative chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz’s plan for reform.
Merz and the Social Democrats, who are in talks to form a coalition government, want the Greens to help them pass a constitutional amendment. In the old Bundestag, still in session, the three parties have the needed two thirds majority. Once new members are seated, a fourth party, the Left, will be needed.
Irene Mihalic dismissed as hipocrisy calls by Merz and the Social Democrats for the Greens to live up to their constitutional responsibilities, saying Merz had refused to enable necessary reforms before the elections when he was in opposition.
“Instead of sitting down with the Greens and the Left, you are trying to do it with the old majority,” she said. “Even though there will still be a majority for a debt brake reform in the new Bundestag.”
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Editing by Friederike Heine)
