German lawmakers reached an agreement on Friday to exempt some defense spending from the nation’s tight rules on running up debt as European leaders are scrambling to shore up the continent's defenses themselves in the face of a Trump administration that is threatening to back out.

Germany’s likely next chancellor on Thursday urged outgoing members of parliament to exempt some defense spending from the nation’s tight self-imposed rules on running up debt.

An agreement has been reached on plans by German chancellor hopeful Friedrich Merz to massively ramp up public borrowing, a source from the Greens party said on Friday, adding: "We are satisfied." Greens' support is seen as crucial to Merz's bid to pass the debt plan with a two-thirds majority in Germany's outgoing parliament.

The CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD have reached an agreement with the Greens on a massive increase in government borrowing, news agencies report, citing party sources.The conservative CDU/CSU bloc of German election winner Friedrich Merz and the Social Democrats have agreed in principle with the Greens on plans for a massive increase in state borrowing ahead of

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) Friedrich Merz speaks during an extraordinary meeting of the German Bundestag, to discuss a €500-billion infrastructure fund and a revamp of borrowing rules aimed at modernizing the military and stimulating economic growth ahead of the formation of a new parliament at end of March,