Finance Minister Christian Lindner still sees a financing gap of around five billion euros in the federal budget for next year after the recent turbulence. But there is still plenty of time to find a viable solutionemphasised the FDP chairman in the summer interview on the ZDF programme “Berlin direct”.
He will consult with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) until the middle of the month, after which the draft budget will go to the Bundestag, where it is expected to be adopted at the end of November.
In fact, the three traffic light coalition leaders had already announced at the beginning of July that they had found a compromise on the budget. They had previously struggled for weeksto plug a gap of at least 30 billion euros. This should now have been achieved without overly harsh austerity measures.
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But Lindner had already Doubts expressed about several projects and have them examined from a constitutional and economic perspective.
4,9 Mrd.
Eurowhich were originally intended for the gas price caps, were to be used elsewhere in the federal budget.
Last week’s review revealed legal risks, particularly in the plan to to use the remaining 4.9 billion euros from the KfW development bank for the gas price caps for other purposes in the budgetThe plan to pay loans instead of subsidies to the motorway company could therefore also be problematic.
SPD and Greens to make proposals for savings
Lindner has therefore announced a need for further discussions – and Attracted displeasure from coalition partners SPD and GreensThe Finance Minister rejects the accusation that he has reignited the debate by subsequently demanding changes to the agreed budget. “We have no new dispute.” The result of the tests “is what it is”.
Lindner did not make a suggestion as to where the money for the five billion euro gap should come from. The FDP has so far said that it expect proposals for savings from SPD and GreensThey criticized the Finance Minister for burying his head in the sand instead of facing up to his responsibility and finding a solution.
There is particularly strong resistance from the SPD faction. Faction leader Rolf Mützenich accused Lindner of acting “irresponsibly”. There will be no cuts in the social sector with the SPD even in a renegotiationsaid party leader Saskia Esken.
SPD wants emergency – FDP against
The SPD is committed to declaring an emergency because of the Ukraine war and additional loans This is permitted in exceptional cases under the debt brake. The FDP is strictly against higher loans.
Christian Lindner (r), Federal Chairman of the FDP, speaks at the ZDF summer interview in “Berlin direct” at the Neue Nationalgalerie with moderator Wulf Schmiese, Deputy Head of the ZDF Capital Studio.
This has economic reasons, among other things, said Lindner in the summer interviewThe federal government must learn to manage with its revenues of almost one trillion euros. “Because for every million euros of new debt, citizens pay interest and repayments. These are not gifts.”
In addition, Germany must comply with European debt rules. In his view, deliberately breaking these rules would be an invitation to other European countries to take on more debt than they can sustain.
For every million euros of new debt, citizens pay interest and repayments. These are not gifts.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)
Lindner drew a red line for the upcoming budget negotiations with “tax increases for the working middle class”. It is not about saving, but about reallocating resources to the right purposes.
Opposition criticizes traffic light coalition – Kretschmann wants special funds
The opposition is taking a hard line against the traffic light coalition because of the new dispute. “The traffic light coalition cannot govern seriously, the chaos continues,” said Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “The federal budget is full of holes like Swiss cheeseunanswered questions and bounced checks everywhere.”
CSU budget politician Sebastian Brehm spoke of “serial political botch”. “If there is serious will, the government can and must manage with its revenues – especially if at the same time debt is taken up to the limit,” he stressed.
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Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann brought Special funds for urgently needed investments in infrastructure comes into play. “We need the possibility of building up a special fund through loans that can only be used for very specific investment purposes,” the Green politician told the German Press Agency.
