German committee approves 2026 budget with higher borrowing
- By DPA Service -
- Nov 14, 2025
Germany’s federal budget for next year has cleared a key hurdle and is now ready for a final vote in parliament.
After long negotiations, the Bundestag’s budget committee – whose approval is effectively the last major step before the plenary vote – early Friday signed off on a €524.5-billion ($611-billion) spending plan, €4 billion more than the government had originally proposed.
The budget relies on substantial new borrowing. The committee authorized nearly €98 billion in fresh debt for the core budget, around €8 billion more than in the government’s initial draft.
Additional loans from a previously agreed special fund for defence and infrastructure are expected to push total new debt to more than €180 billion.
The Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, is due to hold a final vote on the budget during the parliamentary week of November 25–28.
The plan sets spending levels for each ministry in 2026 and outlines which projects will receive funding.
Budget committee to fine-tune Germany’s 2026 budget
Earlier, the budget committee of the lower house of the German parliament, or Bundestag, plans to put the finishing touches to the budget for the coming year at a meeting in Berlin.
In what is known as an adjustment session of the German parliament, lawmakers usually make a few changes to the federal government’s draft, and in some cases decide to postpone millions in spending. The session therefore often lasts late into the night or even until the next morning. Ministers also have to speak.
The Bundestag is then expected to finally vote on the budget in the session week from November 25 to 28.
The issue is how much money the individual ministries will be authorized to spend in 2026 and which projects will be financed.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has earmarked spending of €520.5 billion ($603.3 billion) in his first draft. Around a third of it will come from loans. There are also special funds for infrastructure and the armed forces, or Bundeswehr.