The need for action is “manageable” at 2.4 billion euros in order to achieve the previously practiced reduction in spending of two percent of total expenditure, said parliamentary group vice-chairman Christoph Meyer of the Funke Media Group. This is “a question of will”. However, it is unclear whether this is what the SPD and the Greens want. If the budget is approved with a slightly higher reduction in spending, this would still be “within the bounds of what is reasonable”, said Meyer.
The Bundestag will begin deliberations on the 2025 budget this Tuesday. With the global spending cut, the coalition leaders are hoping that this sum will not be spent because, for example, projects fail or funding is not claimed. At twelve billion euros, however, it is unusually high.
Increased financing gap “not a big deal”
However, economist Jens Südekum does not see this as a major problem. “A global reduction in spending of twelve billion euros is not a big deal,” Südekum told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “It is 2.5 percent instead of the usual two percent of the budget volume. That is still within the limits,” explained the economics professor.
SPD budget officer Dennis Rohde is nevertheless pushing for the gap to be reduced to 9.6 billion euros. He expects proposals from the government to do this, Rohde told “Welt”, RND and the magazine “Stern”.
The debt brake anchored in the Basic Law is to be complied with in the 2025 budget. For the federal government, the rule only allows for new loans within a narrow framework. The SPD is fundamentally in favor of changes. Party leader Saskia Esken reiterated her party’s position here. The debt brake is “out of date” and a “brake on the future.” It urgently needs to be reformed, warned Esken.
