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– Christian Lindner, leader of the German Free Democratic Party.
Paris and Rome are watching the Berlin talks in Berlin with a mixture of fear and hope. The reason is that without the Liberals there is no way to form a cabinet, but their leader, who wants to be part of it, may want to close the fiscal tap that has just been loosened by Chancellor Angela Merkel in tandem with French President Emmanuel. Macron.
“A ghost roams Europe. His name is Christian Lindner. There will be no new federal government without him. And his dream job is called finance minister.” wrote the German edition of Focus.
His comment, mentioned in the seeker of different views on the subject of the British c. The Guardian,
appeared two days before the preliminary talks in Berlin to show that the Social Democrats who won the election, the Greens and the Liberals from the Free Democratic Party are willing to form a government after (at least according to media reports) achieved important breakthroughs on key issues.
The debt brake
Lindner’s entry into the finance ministry will coincide with a moment when France and Italy are pushing for a change in the Stability and Growth Pact, which has imposed tight spending on government loans in the midst of the eurozone crisis.
According to the pact, budget deficits should not exceed 3% of gross domestic product (the rules are not in force due to the pandemic until the end of 2022). German liberals are closer to Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands on this issue – they want the rules to come back into force after the pandemic. In contrast, the current German finance minister and future chancellor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, won sympathy as a “pragmatist” rather than an ideologue, in Paris and Rome, with support for common debt as part of the pandemic recovery.
“Half of Europe is shaking” (according to FOCUS) under Lindner, a staunch supporter of fiscal discipline, once called for Greece to be temporarily kicked out of the eurozone and rejected Macron’s economic plans because they were creating a “Soviet-style system”.
Will the liberals be so firm
According to the Guardian, Lindner managed to provoke a small diplomatic incident at a dinner in Berlin, where he stated (in the words of those present at the event) that “we cannot use the savings accounts of German workers to save the Italians’ savings.” As a result, the Italian ambassador in Berlin raised his hand, recalling that Italy had also contributed money to Greek rescue funds, adding: “If I remember correctly, the Italians were the ones who paid the German debts.”
However, whether the Liberals will be as firm in the government as they were outside it is something that cannot be taken for granted, the Guardian writes. The Free Democratic Party is typically German, although in the European Parliament its members are in the same group as those of French President Emmanuel Macron. The FDP is business-oriented, but highly critical of American-style libertarianism, socially liberal, but also allergic to high Keynesian government spending.
In their coalitions with the Social Democrats last century, they were the brake on the government’s spending, but their latest alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel in power has made it difficult for them to realize that if they are not flexible, they could lose. Their 10-point collapse in the 2013 elections, which drove them out of parliament (is) in the euro area. This pushes aside the libertarian minority in the party.
In addition, attitudes in Germany – and with it fears of accumulating more debt – could change as the situation changes and interest rates on loans are negative, according to Christian Ondendal, chief economist at the think tank Center for European Reform. According to him, the future government will be legally bound to the Liberals with specific climate goals, which, according to the FDP’s proposals, will inevitably lead to higher carbon prices – something they themselves do not want.
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