This has left Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU and its Bavarian sister the CSU, as the clear winner with 28.5 per cent of the vote, though short of the 30 per cent they had been hoping for.
While he has also promised to meet its NATO obligations to take defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP, he has yet to comment on President Trump’s more recent demand for 5 per cent.
Yet Merz, who also campaigned with the promise of €100 billion of unfunded spending, can only do so by relaxing Germany’s debt brake, considered by many to be as sacred as the Holy Grail.
Coalition: Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats, their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union and the Social Democrats have a combined 328 seats in the 630-seat parliament.
With a stunning 83 per cent turnout of voters, the populist right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, was the star performer, doubling its share of the vote to finish second.
