Budget debate in the Bundestag: Merz warns against traffic light plans – “Can’t go well”. The debt brake will still be adhered to because it allows a certain amount of leeway if economic expectations are poor.
In 2009, the then ruling grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to incorporate the debt brake into the Basic Law. This limits the federal government's new structural debt to a maximum of 0.35 percent of GDP. The finance minister emphasized that compliance with this was “a constitutional requirement” that cannot be turned off and on at will.