German parliament's upper house gives final approval to huge defense and borrowing package

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German parliament's upper house gives final approval to huge defense and borrowing package

2025-03-21 18:23 Last Updated At：18:31

BERLIN (AP) — The prospective next German government's plans to enable higher defense spending by loosening strict debt rules and to set up a huge infrastructure fund that's aimed at boosting Europe's biggest economy cleared their final parliamentary hurdle Friday with approval by the upper house.

The chamber, which represents Germany's 16 state governments, approved the measure proposed by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz with the necessary two-thirds majority. Its endorsement followed approval on Tuesday by the lower house.

Conservative leader Merz, who won last month's election, and his prospective center-left coalition partners say recent weeks have brought new urgency to efforts to further strengthen Germany’s long-neglected military, as doubts have grown about the United States' commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance.

The plans needed a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament 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 would-be coalition partners into negotiations with the environmentalist Greens, whose votes were needed to get enough support.

The package exempts from the debt rules spending on defense and security, including intelligence agencies and assistance to Ukraine, of more than 1% of GDP. It also foresees setting up a 500 billion-euro ($544 billion) fund, financed by borrowing, to pour money into Germany’s creaking infrastructure over the next 12 years and help restore the stagnant economy to growth.

At the Greens’ insistence, 100 billion euros from the investment fund will go into climate-related spending. The package also will give state governments more freedom to borrow money.

The parties that negotiated the plans control 41 of the 69 votes in the upper house of parliament. Another 12 votes from states where other parties are also in government gave the package the necessary majority. Four states whose governments contain parties that oppose the plans abstained.

Friday's vote completed a successful first test for Merz, but he still faces plenty of work to put together a coalition of his Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Brignone, Odermatt win season-long downhill titles after wind cancels races at World Cup finals

2025-03-23 06:27 Last Updated At：06:31

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) — Italian ski racer Federica Brignone and Marco Odermatt of Switzerland earned season-long downhill titles Saturday after the races at World Cup finals were canceled due to high wind.

The events were delayed several times throughout the day — first by early morning snow conditions and later because of the gusty conditions along the course. The sun was shining when the announcement was made and a big crowd gathered at the finish line.

Neither race will be made up, meaning Odermatt captures his second straight downhill discipline crown and Brignone the first of her career in the event. Brignone also officially locks up the women's overall title, which was already a foregone conclusion. She led Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland by a 382-point margin heading into the weekend.

“I’ve been working really hard to get better in downhill, to win a race, but to win the World Cup was just something really unexpected,” Brignone said. “This is just amazing. I mean, the season has been crazy.”

Good thing she bought a plane ticket to Sun Valley for her mom, former ski racer Maria Rosa Quario. The venue was playing host to a World Cup event for the first time since 1977.

“Before Christmas,” she said, “I would like to come to Sun Valley, because it’s a place that I've never seen in the World Cup. But I will come only if you play for something big. For a Christmas present, I give her the plane tickets. I was like, ‘OK, this is valuable for a plane ticket to Sun Valley,' and I hope to play for something big."

Later in the finals, her mother will see her earn another trophy when the overall award is presented. The spots to join Brignone on the podium are still up in the air. Gut-Behrami is currently in second and Brignone's Italian teammate Sofia Goggia third.

The women’s downhill was setting up to be quite a showdown, too, with Brignone entering the World Cup finals with a 16-point lead over Cornelia Huetter of Austria in the discipline and a 34-point margin over Goggia.

“I'm a little bit sad,” said Huetter, who was the defending World Cup downhill champion. “But all in all, I'm also really happy with my whole downhill season. It was amazing. I think I've not lost today the globe, but I lost in January where I was a little bit ill and also struggled with my mindset and everything.”

Odermatt had already secured his fourth straight overall crown before World Cup finals. In the downhill standings, he had an 83-point lead over Swiss teammate Franjo von Allmen. Another teammate, Alexis Monney, was third in the downhill standings for a Swiss podium sweep.

“It's just fun to ski fast, to win races," said Odermatt, who's already clinched the super-G and giant slalom titles this season. “This is what motivates me to continue pushing — to try to stay ahead of my teammates who are pushing really hard.”

There's a men's and women's super-G scheduled for Sunday.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing