Germany is set to raise its borrowing by more than €210 billion ($222 billion) next year, the second-highest amount since World War Two, after parliamentarians on Friday backed a budget plan that Chancellor Friedrich Merz hopes will revive his unpopular government. Parliament's budget committee agreed the package in the early hours of the morning, after weeks of haggling between coalition partners that saw plans for taxes on plastics and sweetened drinks as well as welfare cuts dropped or delayed. The budget, which proposes spending of €561 billion, is now free to be passed by parliament.