In early 1996, Waigel and his French counterpart Jean Arthuis launched a French-German economic stimulus package aimed at encouraging spending, increasing growth, cutting taxes on business and reducing unemployment. In the subsequent years, however, both CDU and CSU favored increasing taxes, fearing the consequences of further budgetary cuts; by 1997, the government was already in danger of breaking a Constitutional Court ruling that spending on public investment must exceed the budget deficit. At the time, Germany had a record 2.2 trillion marks in public debt, much of it amassed during Waigel's tenure because of the costs of reunification.