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By Maria Martinez

BERLIN, May 12 (Reuters) - More growth in Germany with the reforms of the new government will be good news for Europe, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said on Monday.

All European partners welcome Germany taking on a bigger role in defence, Klingbeil added in Brussels ahead of a meeting of European Union finance ministers.

Germany's parliament approved in March plans for a massive spending surge, including the removal of defence investment from rules that cap borrowing.

The new government of conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz in coalition with the centre left Social Democrats (SPD) of Klingbeil has also announced policies such as tax cuts and raising the minimum wage to revive stalled growth in Europe's biggest economy.

Germany was the only member of the G7 advanced economies that failed to grow for the last two years, and the tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump would deal a major blow - possibly putting it on track for a third year of recession for the first time in post-war German history.

Klingbeil expressed his support for the European Commission's approach to trade policy with the U.S.

"We want to be in dialogue, we want to find a solution, but we are also ready in case it is not possible to find an agreement in the coming weeks," Klingbeil said.

The European Commission on Thursday proposed countermeasures on up to 95 billion euros ($105.61 billion) of U.S. imports if negotiations with Washington fail to remove the series of tariffs applied by Trump.

($1 = 0.8995 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Martinez, editing by Rachel More)

((maria.martinez@thomsonreuters.com;))