“Daring operation” Merz sees red-green “close to the brink of unconstitutionality”
November 15, 2024, 12:23 p.m. Listen to article
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Federal Minister of Economics Habeck would like to use money that was actually earmarked for Intel to reduce network fees. The Union is wondering how this should be financed. According to CDU leader Merz, the new finance minister already lacks the funds to pay out an important benefit.
Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz reacts skeptically to Economics Minister Robert Habeck‘s plans to use Intel’s freed-up billions to reduce network fees and thus relieve the burden on the economy. “I don’t understand how this is going to be financed,” said the Union Chancellor candidate and CDU chairman after a special meeting of CDU/CSU MPs in Berlin. “These are obviously last-minute operations without a parliamentary majority.” Merz spoke of the coalition’s daring operations, “on the verge of being unconstitutional.”
“If I have calculated correctly, the funds from the climate and transformation fund are already several times oversubscribed,” said Merz. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said that after Finance Minister Jörg Kukies had other ideas, it became clear: “Not even the rest of the traffic lights can agree on these questions.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to meet with representatives of business associations, companies and unions at another industrial summit today.
According to Habeck’s ideas, the first actually planned tranche of Intel funds could be used to reduce network fees by four billion euros in 2025. This requires a majority in the Bundestag’s budget committee. After the traffic light failed, red-green no longer has a majority. The Intel funding should come from the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) – a special federal fund. Kukies wants to use the funding released by the postponement of the Intel chip factory in Magdeburg to prevent a budget freeze this year.
Merz criticized that Kukies had obviously not had the funds to pay out citizens’ money since November 7th. “These are legal obligations that the federal government must fulfill.” For this reason too, the Union is not prepared to establish further legal obligations that would trigger even more financial resources.
