Germany news: Parliament agrees on debt-laden 2027 budget

The budget committee in the Bundestag worked into the night to sign off on next year's spending plans. These include levels of new debt only eclipsed once, at the height of the COVID pandemic. DW has more. Politicians on the Bundestag budget committee burned the proverbial candle at both ends heading into Friday morning, trying to finalize details of the federal government's spending plans for 2027 before the year's end.

Including all spending plans, in the core budget and from the so-called "special funds" for infrastructure and military modernization, new debt constitutes around a third of total spending plans. In total, the plan is to take out new debt worth just over €210 billion ($233 billion), while taking in a little less than €400 billion in taxes. That's the second-highest level of new debt in the post-war history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Even at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2021, new debt was only slightly higher, at €215.4 billion.

Moin! Here's hoping you slept more and better than the Bundestag's budget committee.