BERLIN (Reuters) -Lars Klingbeil, Germany's next vice chancellor and finance minister, is an experienced Social Democrat lawmaker who has sat in parliament for more than 15 years, but his area of expertise has been in defence rather than finance.

Germany has asked the European Commission for an exemption from European Union borrowing limits in order to increase defence spending in the coming years, according to a letter from German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies seen by Reuters on Monday.

Social Democrat co-leader Lars Klingbeil will become Germany’s next finance minister, putting him in charge of the purse strings of Europe’s largest nation as it prepares to unleash hundreds of billions of euros to overhaul its infrastructure and its armed forces.