German lawmakers weigh controversial budget from Scholz's coalition

After months of difficult wrangling, Germany's coalition government began presenting a budget proposal to lawmakers in Berlin on Tuesday - despite major holes remaining.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner acknowledged that all three parties in the coalition clashed over priorities in the budget, making negotiations particularly difficult and contentious.

He told lawmakers in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, that global crises and a sputtering German economy also weighed on the talks, and that previous governments had an easier time devising a budget.

"We have seen economic and legal limits, but also our respective political limits," said Lindner, a leader of the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP), who often clashed with his centre-left coalition partners over his determination to limit spending.

Experts, including the German Bundesbank central bank, have described the figures outlined in the budget as dubious or unrealistic.

So too have leaders from the opposition centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), who recently raised the possibility of bringing constitutional challenges over the budget in court.

The budget for the coming year is the final one Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition will craft before facing voters in a national parliamentary election in September 2025.

The draft budget aims to simultaneously stimulate Germany's sputtering economy, maintain social benefits, relieve taxpayers and uphold pledges to NATO allies to rebuild the country's military.

However, the modest size of the proposed military budget has come in for particular criticism. Although there is an increase of €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion), that falls far short of what Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has argued is necessary.