Germany’s Spending Gamble(2025)

Germany’s Spending Gamble Synopsis

For decades Germany was allergic to debt. But new chancellor Friedrich Merz has - unexpectedly - loosened the country’s constitutional debt brake, injecting hundreds of billions of euros into the armed forces and infrastructure. The move, he hopes, will revive Europe’s largest economy and build up its military as Donald Trump’s US administration dismantles the transatlantic relations that underpinned Germany’s postwar recovery. The FT travels to Frankfurt and Berlin to examine why investment in crumbling schools, roads and rail infrastructure - and defence - is needed and to ask if the spending gamble will kickstart Germany's economic engine.

Germany’s Spending Gamble (2025) is a documentary film directed by Daniel Garrahan, released on July 24, 2025 with a runtime of 25m. It stars Friedrich Merz, Olaf Storbeck, Armin Steinbach and Martin Wolf.