Overview

• In the Generaldebatte on the 2026 plan, Merz argued reform and investment in infrastructure, schools and childcare are needed to secure the social state, rejecting claims of social cutbacks.
• He pointed to a cabinet retreat next week on state modernisation and said auto and steel meetings with industry, unions and affected Länder will take place in the coming days.
• The draft envisions about €521 billion in core spending plus roughly €107 billion from debt‑financed special funds, with around €174 billion in new borrowing.
• Greens floor leader Britta Haßelmann faulted Merz for skipping the UN General Assembly after Trump’s speech and called his likening of critics on left and right “bodenlos”; AfD and the Left accused the government of wrong priorities, with the AfD urging cooperation and denouncing “Verrat.”
• SPD parliamentary leader Matthias Miersch pressed for quicker delivery on housing, infrastructure and bureaucracy cuts, while Merz avoided addressing Trump’s UN remarks or the Middle East in his address.