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Published 07/30/2025Published July 30, 2025last updated 07/30/2025last updated July 30, 2025The draft budget of €520.5 billion includes increased spending on infrastructure and defense. Meanwhile, one of Germany's most recognizable car manufacturers experienced a difficult first half of the year. DW has more.
https://p.dw.com/p/4yEC0
Klingbeil noted Germany's move to exempt defence spending from strict debt rules, which will allow the government to massively increase investment in security in the long term.
Image: Michael Kappeler/dpaWhat you need to know
The German government is expected to approve the 2026 draft budget later on Wednesday, which includes planned investments totaling €126.7 billion and borrowing of €174.3 billion.
It comes with a warning from Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil that significant austerity measures will likely be needed starting in 2027.
Here's a roundup of events, backgrounders and analysis in Germany on Wednesday, July 30:
07/30/2025July 30, 2025
Welt TV launches weekly AI-produced news show
German news channel Welt TV is launching a weekly program entirely produced and hosted by artificial intelligence.
Titled KI-Welt, the show covers topics like AI, robotics, and future tech, with all editorial processes, from research to presentation, handled by AI with human supervision.
Jan Philipp Burgard, Welt TV's editor-in-chief, said the experimental show is to show what is already possible with AI.
"We won't be able to stop the AI revolution, so we should embrace it and help shape it," he said.
A computer-generated avatar anchors the show. The first episode will air on Thursday.
The AI-generated host of the new show, KI-Welt, on Welt TV Image: Welt TV/dpahttps://p.dw.com/p/4yEIR
Skip next section Mercedes-Benz profit drops 55.8%07/30/2025July 30, 2025
Mercedes-Benz profit drops 55.8%
Profits at German carmaker Mercedes-Benz have fallen by 55.8% in the first half of the year, the company says.
The Stuttgart-based carmaker said post-tax earnings plummeted from €6.1 billion to around €2.7 billion in the first half of the year.
The business cited tariffs, lower sales volumes, and costs linked to efficiency measures as reasons for the decline.
Looking ahead, Mercedes now expects full-year group revenue to fall significantly below last year's level.
https://p.dw.com/p/4yEEx
Skip next section Germany's 2026 budget expected to include heavy spending07/30/2025July 30, 2025
Germany's 2026 budget expected to include heavy spending
The German government is expected to approve the 2026 draft budget on Wednesday, which outlines spending of €520.5 billion ($600.3 billion) and new borrowing totaling about €174 billion.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil's budget includes €126.7 billion in investments earmarked for modernizing the country.
The government, in office since May, has pledged to increase spending to upgrade infrastructure and strengthen the military.
Officials also hope the budget will help improve the economic climate, which is projected to recover noticeably in 2025 and 2026 after two years of stagnation.
Klingbeil, however, warned this week that significant austerity measures will likely be needed starting in 2027, when a funding gap of approximately €172 billion is expected.
https://p.dw.com/p/4yEHt
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage07/30/2025July 30, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
Guten Morgen from the Bonn newsroom, still staffed by humans.
That's no longer the case over at Welt TV, where a new weekly program will soon be produced and presented entirely by artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, the German government is tackling the 2026 draft budget the old-fashioned way, without AI assistance, at least as far as we know. In a notable shift from its long-standing tradition of fiscal restraint, Germany is now spending big: aiming to jumpstart the economy, modernize its aging infrastructure, and boost military investment.
We'll be keeping an eye on those stories, and more, right here in this blog.
https://p.dw.com/p/4yEDe
