German MPs have voted to pass a motion to loosen the country’s strict borrowing rules, altering the constitution. The measure had been proposed by Friedrich Merz, the presumptive incoming chancellor, in the outgoing Bundestag, or federal parliament

A motion put before the outgoing Bundestag to alter the German constitution to allow for greater investment and borrowing, in part to fund higher defence spending. The vote needs a two-thirds majority to pass.