Germany's parliament voted Tuesday in favor of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz's massive debt reform, which will free up hundreds of billions of euros for Europe's defenses amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

Germany's outgoing parliament on Tuesday passed a massive increase in government borrowing, including a sweeping change to the country's debt rules.

Germany’s would-be next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, won lawmakers’ approval Tuesday for ambitious plans to loosen the nation’s strict debt rules for higher defense spending as doubts mount about the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance,