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The Bundestag is discussing the draft budget. The CDU accuses the traffic light coalition of “legally dubious maneuvers” and “historically” high new debt.
Berlin – After months of dispute and several meetings between the three party leaders Olaf Scholz, Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner, the traffic light coalition is now submitting its draft budget to the Bundestag. The debate begins on Tuesday, September 10. But there is also further potential for conflict there. Before the negotiations, CDU budget politician Christian Haase accused the government of “budget tricks and legally dubious maneuvers.”
“The budget agreement was bought through additional debt, budget tricks and dubious legal maneuvers,” Haase told the news agency AFPThe federal government ultimately “aimed everything at circumventing the debt brake so that an agreement could be reached after months of wrangling.”
Traffic light coalition finally submits the 2025 budget to the Bundestag: “Legally dubious actions”
The traffic light cabinet had already approved the draft budget in July. However, before the Bundestag could discuss it, the gap of 17 billion euros had to be reduced. This led to the next dispute over finances. In mid-August, the next agreement was finally reached on the draft budget for 2025 – in a slightly modified version.
Christian Lindner, Robert Habeck and Olaf Scholz have long struggled over the 2025 budget, but now CDU budget politician Haase is accusing them of “legally dubious actions”. © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
However, CDU politician Haase makes a harsh judgment: “The maxim was: increase debt, try to conceal legally dubious actions – and all of this for a minimum budgetary consensus.” Specifically, the budget expert is concerned with the planned equity increase at Deutsche Bahn and a federal loan to the company. These measures are “on constitutionally thin ice”. Lindner’s finance ministry itself also had doubts and had the methods examined in two reports.
How high should the spending be in the 2025 budget?
Specifically, the traffic light coalition is planning to spend a total of 488.61 billion euros in 2025. To finance this, the federal government needs 51.3 billion euros in fresh loans. The new debt will therefore be “historically high,” said CDU member Haase.
Despite the tricks and the loans, there is still a gap of twelve billion euros in the draft budget. A so-called global spending cut of this amount is planned. This means that this money must be saved in 2025 – but it is not specified how exactly this will happen.
Contrary to SPD and Greens: FDP insists on debt brake in budget
Despite the accusations, the FDP once again stressed its commitment to the debt brake. “With the FDP, there will be a budget that complies with the constitution,” said FDP parliamentary group vice-chairman Christoph Meyer. “There will be no left-green emergency constructions or other measures that border on violating the constitution.”
Previously, the SPD parliamentary group had again called for the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law to be changed in order to enable more investment in areas such as transport infrastructure and education. The Greens are also calling for the debt brake to be modified.
