Today, it is not so often that the German Social Democrats have good economic ideas. An upcoming initiative by one of them makes a lot of sense and deserves more support than it is likely to receive. Olaf Scholz, the finance minister, wants to end the so-called “debt brake” – a constitutional restriction on government deficits and loans. But the ruling coalition’s senior partners, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, are already preparing to reject the proposal.

The fiscal ceiling in Germany is not entirely unique. Switzerland and Austria also have versions of it, while the European Union (EU) and most US states have restrictions on public budgets in another form. As a matter of habit, the Germans have not only made their rules particularly stringent but also adhered to them quite strictly.

The debt brake was introduced by amending the constitution in 2009, just as the global financial crisis was turning into a Еuro crisis. The two crises had many causes, but at that time the Germans were fixated on one of them: debt. A controversial but plausible reason may be that the German word for debt (Schulden) is etymologically related to that for wine (Schuld). Since its introduction, the debt brake has taken many forms and at different times at the federal, regional and municipal levels of government.

The result is that the Germans have been spending more on public spending over the last decade, just when they had to invest much, much more for all kinds of reasons. One of them is that the German infrastructure – from roads to high-speed internet – has long been modernized. Another reason is that the sluggish economy of the euro area, including Germany itself, is in desperate need of fiscal stimulus as monetary policy reaches its limits.

Another good argument for higher public spending is that, if targeted, they can also encourage more private investment. This, in turn, could help correct one of the most striking economic imbalances in the world: Germany’s current account surplus, which is the largest. This surplus is, by definition, the excess of internal savings over investment. The downside is the corresponding deficits in other countries, which are very damaging.

Last but not least, there is no good justification against increasing public loans to finance expenses because it will not cost anything. In fact, yields on German government bonds are negative – the markets will actually pay the government to raise more money.

Therefore, a rule that at first glance seems reasonable is a major problem for the European and even the global economy, precisely when it is at risk of a slowdown in the face of trade wars and a pandemic. None of these arguments, by the way, could bypass German politicians. For years, absolutely everyone – from the International Monetary Fund to the White House and the European Central Bank – has murmured Germans on these issues. The European Commission has just warned them again in its latest report on the country.

Against this background, what Olaf Scholz plans to offer in March is really just a small change in the rule. He wants Europe’s largest economy to pull its foot off the brake only once so that the federal government takes on about 40 billion ЕУР in debt from about 2,500 troubled cities and counties. This will allow municipalities, especially those in economically depressed areas, to borrow and spend on local infrastructure.

However, since the debt brake is enshrined in the constitution, Scholz must win a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the German parliament. He will not succeed. All right-wing parties in Germany, from the center to the end of the political spectrum, are firmly against anything that feels as guilty as long. The Christian Democrats even joke – ironically, but proud that the debt brake is their “fetish”.

No one is suggesting that extravagance is a good management policy. However, such is not the persistent tightness and blind submission to arbitrary rules at a time when the global economy is swaying on the brink and only a handful of countries have the fiscal capacity to help it. Germany, being the only G7 member to continue to maintain a budget surplus, is the largest and most important of these countries. It is time for the Germans to understand their own vital role in the world and to abolish the well-intentioned but wrong rule that creates so many problems.