German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said strict limits on government borrowing in German law cannot be allowed to curtail necessary spending on defence and military preparedness.
Pistorius told dpa during a visit to New York on Wednesday that military spending, as well as some emergency response funding, should be excluded from the so-called debt brake rules that are written into Germany's constitution.
The controversial debt brake rules, which were added to the German constitution in 2009, only allow the government to rely on borrowing for deficit spending under certain conditions.
Pistorius did not call for the repeal of the rules, but argued that the restrictions cannot be allowed to keep Germany from meeting its defence obligations.
Germany is currently grappling with how to accommodate the NATO target of spending at least 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
A €100 billion ($107 billion) special defence fund created in the wake of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has propped up Germany's military budget but is due to be exhausted by 2028.
Pistorius has advocated increasing military funding in the regular government budget well before then.
"The debt brake would remain in place, but spending on defence and civil protection would not be included," Pistorius said, pointing out that Germany's constitution also requires the government to provide an adequate defence for the people.
He added that his ministry has prepared a legal opinion to back up his argument.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner, a leader of the liberal-conservative Free Democrats (FDP) and a vocal defender of the debt brake rules, reacted immediately.
"Unfortunately, Mr Pistorius is only pointing out the option of creating security through debt. Citizens are being saddled with more and more permanent interest burdens," Lindner told dpa.
"The better way is to reallocate money in our large state budget and get the economy moving," Lindner said
Pistorius has argued that an "arms freeze" for Germany's under-equipped military is imminent without a substantial increase in funding soon.
"There will be no simple answer to the question of where all the money we need to close the gap will come from," said Pistorius.
"We are talking about additional requirements of €6.5 [billion] to €7 billion for the coming year. The additional requirement will continue to grow in the years after that" once the special fund is exhausted, Pistorius told dpa.
The minister said annual increases in military spending in the "double-digit billions" of euros will be necessary after 2028: "We have to be honest."
"Defence is a constitutional mandate. This includes the deployment of armed forces for defence," Pistorius said. "It therefore has the same status as the debt brake. You cannot say that this security requirement as a fundamental right must take a back seat to the debt brake."
