BERLIN, March 18, (AP): Germany's would-be next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is asking lawmakers Tuesday to allow the country to put "whatever it takes” into defense as doubts mount about the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance, and to authorize an enormous fund for investment in its creaking infrastructure, financed by hefty borrowing.

The outgoing parliament is set to meet for a final time to vote on the plans as Merz's center-right Union bloc works to put together a governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz after winning last month's election. The plans will need a two-thirds majority in parliament's lower house, the Bundestag, because they involve changes to Germany's strict self-imposed borrowing rules - the so-called "debt brake,” which allows new borrowing worth only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product and is anchored in the constitution.

That forced the prospective coalition partners into negotiations with the environmentalist Greens, whose votes will be needed to get enough support. The package would exempt from the debt rules spending on defense and security, including intelligence agencies and assistance to Ukraine, of more than 1% of GDP.

It also foresees setting up a 500 billion-euro ($544 billion) fund, financed by borrowing, to pour funding into Germany's infrastructure over the next 12 years and help restore the economy - Europe's biggest - to growth. At the Greens' insistence, 100 billion euros from the investment fund will go into climate-related spending.

The plans amount to an about-turn for Merz, whose party had spoken out against running up new debt before the election without entirely closing the door to future changes to the "debt brake.” The Social Democrats and Greens had long argued for a reform of the borrowing rules. Recent weeks have brought new urgency to efforts to further strengthen Germany's long-neglected military.