Germany is moving fast to rearm. The new coalition isn’t in place yet, but it has agreed to a deal that will allow Germany to max out its credit card on military spending.

If approved, it will be one of the biggest steps toward militarization Germany has taken since it was allowed to have an army in 1955. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz spent his time in office promising major changes but only partially delivering. Friedrich Merz isn’t even chancellor yet, but he’s already introducing significant changes.

The deal between the right-wing Christian Democrats and left-wing Social Democrats would change the German constitution. It would eliminate all restrictions on military spending. The constitution limits how much Germany can borrow. But all military spending above 1 percent of gross domestic product would not count toward that debt limit. If the money is for weapons, Germany can borrow as much as it likes. The same deal would unlock €500 billion (us$540 billion) for spending on infrastructure and make it easier for states to borrow money.

“The German debt brake, Germany’s constitutional balanced budget rule, was effectively killed by the same two parties that introduced it in 2009,” wrote EuroIntelligence. “What happened last night is without a doubt the biggest U-turn in Germany since 1969 when Germany started to revalue the D-mark. And it has been made possible by Donald Trump. The sheer depth and the breadth of the coalition agreement goes beyond anything political observers, us included, imagined possible.”

Berenberg Bank chief economist Holger Schmieding called the proposals “a really big bazooka” and “a fiscal sea change for Germany.”

“Germany is finally taking on the leadership role which, given its size and its fiscal space, it should have assumed years ago,” he said.

Germany Thinks the Unthinkable

Leaked plans show Merz wants to spend an extra €400 billion on defense—though it’s not clear on what timescale. The deal also includes €500 billion on infrastructure over the next 10 years, as well as borrowing rules for German states.

Scholz announced a €100 billion fund to boost defense spending in 2022. At the time, he was clear and specific: This would come in addition to Germany spending 2 percent of its gdp on the military. Later he watered it down, using the fund to get Germany up to the minimum nato level of funding.

What Merz is proposing is four times bigger. Last year Germany spent €61.9 billion on its defense. An extra €400 billion is a massive step up. If spread over five years, it would more than double German defense spending. Spread over 10, it’s still a major boost.

“The immense figures under discussion in Berlin would have been politically unthinkable a week ago, before the total loss of faith in [the United States’] friendship,” wrote the Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. “If enacted on anything close to this scale, such a high-octane blast of military Keynesianism will entirely change the economic and geopolitical shape of the world.”

Marcus Söder, leader of the Christian Social Union party—which works with the Christian Democrats—spelled out what they wanted. “We need a drone force of 100,000 drones, 800 new tanks, 2,000 Patriot missiles and 1,000 Taurus just for Germany as a protective shield like the Iron Dome,” he said. “Only the strong will be taken seriously.”

European Military Spending

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a similar rearmament push for Europe on Tuesday. “We are in an era of rearmament,” she said. “Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending.” Like the German plan, it would exempt money borrowed to spend on the military from European funding rules. Another part of the plan would see the European Commission providing €150 billion in loans for defense.

Her plan will make a difference—but not as much as Merz’s. Many European Union states are close to maxing out their credit cards. France is the EU’s second-largest military spender. Its debt is 110 percent the size of its economy. Italy, in third place, has a debt-to-gdp ratio of over 130 percent. Neither can easily borrow more. Germany’s debt-to-gdp ratio is just 62 percent. Germany is already the EU’s largest defense spender. It is about to become massively dominant, spending far more than France or anyone else in the EU.

Across Europe, shares in defense firms are soaring. Rheinmetall shares are up nearly 20 percent just since February 28. bae Systems is up 16 percent. Germany’s Hensoldt AG is up over 30 percent. France’s Dassault Aviation is up 10 percent. France’s Thales SA, which makes defense electronics, is up over 20 percent. Investors clearly expect a bonanza of military spending.

Redesigning Factories

While defense is booming, the manufacturing industry as a whole is struggling. There’s an obvious solution.

Scholz announced last month that the Alstom train factory in Görlitz would stop making train carriages and build tanks instead, after the Franco-German defense giant knds took it over. A few weeks later, Rheinmetall announced it would take two factories making car parts and retool them to make ammunition.

The Italian news outlet Corriere della Sera published leaked details of a plan to shift Italy’s auto industry to making arms. Subcontractors in Italy currently make parts for the German car industry; they could shift to supply the German arms industry.

“It is becoming obvious to everybody that defense spending is the way to offset job losses in the car industry,” Schmieding said.

An Attack on Democracy

If Merz pulls this off, it will be huge. But there are significant obstacles. Changing the constitution requires a two-thirds majority in parliament. That won’t be possible in the new parliament. The Communist Left party and far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) hold a blocking minority. The AfD has already condemned the proposals as an “orgy of debt.” Before the AfD was an anti-migration party with a revisionist history of World War ii, it was a party of nerdy economists that hated borrowing and inflation. That remains in its dna. Convincing the AfD to back this would be almost impossible.

But Merz is playing fast and loose with the “democratic norms” the mainstream claim to love.

Germany’s new parliament is not yet sitting: Newly elected members of the Bundestag don’t have to take their seats until March 25 at the latest. Until then, the old parliament sticks around. Here there is a better chance of getting the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution.

That’s pretty sketchy. Merz wants a parliament that has already been voted out to change the constitution. If voters disagree, they have no way to punish their M.P.s.

Getting the two-thirds majority will require the agreement of the Greens party, which will have its price. But the clock is ticking: They have to agree to a deal before March 25. The Greens will probably insist on a lot of environmental spending.

Merz clearly doesn’t have much regard for democracy if he’s willing to push on this way. It could also drive support for the AfD. It’s hard to accuse your opponents of being undemocratic if you’re pulling stunts like this.

Debt Explosion?

There could also be serious ramifications for all Europe from this spending spree. Investors will loan money to European countries because they know Germany has the resources for some bailouts. If France, Italy or Spain goes bust, Germany will struggle to help. But Germany can handle, and has handled, Portugal or Greece.

What happens to the eurozone if Germany maxes out its credit card like everyone else?

This level of spending will increase the pressure on the EU to make bigger financial reforms: to borrow money and coordinate spending as one nation, rather than 27 individual countries that kind of work together.

Ahead of His Time

Herbert W. Armstrong warned of this military union for decades. In May 1953, he wrote that “10 powerful European nations will combine their forces.” In August 1978, he warned: “The Europeans are far more disturbed about their safety in relying on United States military power to protect them than Americans realize! …

“Europeans want their own united military power! They know that a political union of Europe would produce a third major world power, as strong as either the United States or the ussr—possibly stronger!”

This Bible-based forecast is critical to understand what is happening in Europe. Revelation 17 describes a union of 10 kings—with incredible military power. After Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in October 2008: “Mr. Armstrong often taught that a political or economic crisis would spark these ‘ten kings’ to strongly unite very quickly. The fact that Russia has launched a war shows just how easily such a crisis could occur! Will the Georgia strike actually spark European unification? Will a crisis occur over Ukraine? That area is the breadbasket of Russia, and surely it is willing to wage war over that as well.”

The day Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Flurry sent out an e-mail warning: “The most important nation to watch right now is Germany. How will it respond to [Vladimir] Putin’s war on Ukraine? This Ukraine war is going to speed up the rise of the prophesied German-led Holy Roman Empire!”

Within days, Germany announced a historic turning point in its military spending. Scholz later watered that down, but it was a massive shift nonetheless. What Merz wants now is even bigger.

Germany is changing fast. Merz is already talking about sharing nuclear weapons with France and Britain.

This union of 10 kings is clearly a military union. The Bible says these kings shall “make war” (Revelation 17:14).

Many other passages warn of a great war-making power in this end time. In Isaiah 10:5-7, God says that He has raised up Germany—end-time Assyria—to “destroy and cut off nations not a few.” Habakkuk talks about the same time period, calling the end-time European power “Chaldeans”—this time referring to its religious nature. He describes them as a “bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:6).

The Bible is full of prophecies foretelling a military empire that will march in and conquer Israel. “I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say” (Jeremiah 5:15). Ezekiel 6:3 states: “Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.”

Jeremiah and Ezekiel wrote their prophecies 100 years after ancient Israel went into captivity. Their warnings make no sense—unless you realize that they are intended for when God would “bring again the captivity of … Israel” during “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:3, 7).

The military power building in Europe right now is the one God prophesied would “bring again” this captivity.

It is because of these prophecies that Mr. Armstrong forecast Europe would become a military power. But Mr. Armstrong also saw from the Bible’s prophecies that this unification would not come easily.

“The nations of Europe have been striving to become reunited,” he wrote in the January 1979 Plain Truth. “They desire a common currency, a single combined military force, a single united government. They have made a start in the Common Market. They are now working toward a common currency. Yet on a purely political basis, they have been totally unable to unite.”

He saw it would take fear of Russia, an economic crisis, the aid of the Catholic Church and the rise of a strong leader to make this happen. Many of these events are coming together right now.

In 2014, Mr. Flurry wrote: “A second major prophecy that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will bring about is the arrival of a strongman in Europe. A new leader is coming—a kind of Vladimir Putin. This is what Europe needs in order to bind together, to have the strength and unity of purpose needed to confront Russia.”

Merz is moving quickly and decisively. We don’t think he will be that strong leader, but he could help bring that strong leader to power.

Shortly after Putin’s invasion, Mr. Flurry wrote:

So much of what God prophesied through Mr. Armstrong has already been fulfilled. Watch closely for the final part of these prophecies to emerge! “Ten kings” are going to arise—and the 28 nations currently comprising the European Union are going to be pared down to 10. They are going to be led by a strong Putin-like dictator and unified by the Roman Catholic Church. At that point, they will present to the world a power even greater than that of Russia or the United States!

This could happen very quickly. Now is the time to understand these prophecies, so you can know what comes next. Do that, and what could be terrifying events around you will point to fulfilled prophecy in the Bible and the Almighty God who gave these prophecies. Look into the Bible for yourself and you’ll see that all these events are happening as part of God’s plan to bring the world to Him. Our free booklet The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy will help you understand.