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,

Germany’s Bundestag, or Lower House of Parliament, passed a historic bill allowing it to sidestep its strict rules on debt to spend big on defence and infrastructure. Why is this move a big deal? And why does its timing matter?

German lawmakers have voted to allow a huge increase in defence and infrastructure spending - a seismic shift for the country that could reshape European defence. A two-thirds majority of Bundestag parliamentarians, required for the change, approved the vote on Tuesday.