Germany's would-be next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is asking lawmakers Tuesday to allow the country to put whatever it takes into defense as doubts mount about the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance, and to authorise an enormous fund for investment in its creaking infrastructure, financed by hefty borrowing. The outgoing parliament is set to meet for a final time to vote on the plans as Merz's center-right Union bloc works to put together a governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz after winning last month's election. Two-thirds majority needed The plans will need a two-thirds majority in parliament's lower house, the Bundestag, because they involve changes to Germany's strict self-imposed borrowing rules the so-called debt brake, which allows new borrowing worth only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product and is anchored in the constitution. That forced the prospective coalition partners into negotiations with the ...