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Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Lawmakers on the Bundestag budget committee worked into the night on late revisions to the 2027 budget
- It includes the second-highest amount of borrowing in modern German history
- The only budget richer in new debt was 2021’s, at the height of the COVID pandemic
- New insolvency figures for August, more than 2,000 companies applied for protection
Follow our collection of news and analysis on stories from or relating to Germany on Friday, November 13.
Skip next section In numbers: What are the core points of the budget? 11/13/2026November 13, 2026
In numbers: What are the core points of the budget?
Here are a few of the core statistics about 2027’s overall spending plans:
- Total spending in the core German budget will rise to €560.9 billion (roughly $620 billion), compared to €524.5 billion last year
- Tax revenues are predicted to rise slightly, to €396.2 billion
- The figures only classify net new debt in the core budget at just under €123 billion because another €38.4 billion is deemed deductible as part of long-term investment in infrastructure, combating climate change and defense
- €57.8 billion will be borrowed as part of the “special fund” for infrastructure development and climate neutrality
- And another €29.6 billion is being borrowed as part of the military modernization special fund
- That leads to total new borrowing of just over €210 billion, the highest on record excepting 2021’s level of €215.4 billion
Edited by:Dmytro Hubenkohttps://p.dw.com/p/5PPNVSkip next section Budget committee concludes marathon session on 2027 spending plans11/13/2026November 13, 2026
Budget committee concludes marathon session on 2027 spending plans
Politicians on the Bundestag budget committee burned the proverbial candle at both ends heading into Friday morning, trying to finalize details of the federal government’s spending plans for 2027 before the year’s end.
The session took over 15 hours, and already politicians are talking about areas where they still see room for further improvement or alteration — but the document does at least stand in such a form in which it can take effect without too many complications.
Including all spending plans, in the core budget and from the so-called “special funds” for infrastructure and military modernization, new debt constitutes around a third of total spending plans.
In total, the plan is to take out new debt worth just over €210 billion ($233 billion), while taking in a little less than €400 billion in taxes.
That’s the second-highest level of new debt in the post-war history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Even at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2021, new debt was only slightly higher, at €215.4 billion.
We’ll break down more of the details and cover some of the reactions in later posts.
Edited by:Dmytro Hubenkohttps://p.dw.com/p/5PPIRSkip next section Welcome to our coverage11/13/2026November 13, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
Moin! Here’s hoping you slept more and better than the Bundestag’s budget committee. Or if not, at least let’s hope that you had more fun.
Its members worked towards the dawn in a session lasting over 15 hours, trying to iron out the last wrinkles in spending plans for 2027.
The proverbial white smoke emerged at around 6 in the morning in Berlin, with word of a finalized agreement.
If you were tired of talk and criticism of the “debt brake” and the “black zero” (a promise not to take any new debts) in the years following the eurozone debt crisis, rest assured we can assign such chatter to the history books for now.
The borrowing plans for 2027 — if you incorporate new debt taken out as part of so-called “special funds,” for instance for the military and infrastructure, rather than as part of the core budget — are the second highest in the history of post-war Germany.
The country only took out more new debt in 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic and even then it was very close indeed.
We’ll bring you more news and reactions on this, and whatever else breaks around the country, as Friday develops.
Edited by:Dmytro Hubenkohttps://p.dw.com/p/5PPIDShow more posts
