BERLIN — Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting in a fiery Bundestag debate Thursday urged Green lawmakers to pass constitutional amendments that would unleash up to €1 trillion in new spending to bolster the country’s military and invest in its economy.

The Greens vow to foil the chancellor-in-waiting’s historic plan to invest big in defense and infrastructure. But it may just be a negotiating gambit.

Germany's Greens vowed to block plans by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz for a massive increase in state borrowing to revamp the military and revive growth but forwarded rival proposals on Monday in a bid for compromise.

Germany’s Green party rejected a debt-financed package that would unleash hundreds billions of euros in defense and infrastructure spending, potentially imperiling the flagship policy of chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz.

Party officials reject €500bn infrastructure fund plan and change to debt borrowing rules to fund defence spending

Germany's Greens are open to talks on a massive defence and infrastructure spending package, but are awaiting a negotiating offer from the political parties that put forward the proposal, Green leader Felix Banaszak said on Tuesday.

The CDU and SPD, likely coalition partners in Germany's next government, want to relax the debt brake for spending on defense and infrastructure. But the Greens said this would not invest enough in climate protection.

Germany's Green party on Monday threatened to torpedo plans put forward by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz to invest hundreds of billions in defence and infrastructure. The proposed constitutional changes to ease strict borrowing limits in the area of defence and establish a 500-billion-euro ($542-billion) fund for infrastructure were described as historic when they were presented last week.