Dhe summer break in Berlin is not over yet. In any case, that is the explanation for the fact that so few Greens want to talk about what happened in the cabinet on Wednesday: Family Minister Lisa Paus refuses to approve the Growth Opportunities Act, which Economics Minister Robert Habeck, her party colleague, had intensively negotiated until the end it was a good law in his view. But Paus does not see that the economy should be relieved with 6.5 billion euros, but only two billion should be available for basic child security.
The FDP gives free rein to their indignation. Apparently, the liberal MPs are already back from vacation. Or they write their tweets from the beach, in which Greens are instructed that all funds that are to be distributed must also be generated beforehand. The economy now needs exactly the help that the draft law from the house of Federal Finance Minister Christian Linder (FDP) provides for.
The traffic light fights again and again. It’s a bit like the heating law – only with different roles. Now it’s the FDP, like the Greens in spring, who are stepping up the pace. They argue with the falling Ifo business climate index, because the CDU is breathing down their necks, which is already warning of Germany’s “de-industrialization”. And this time the Greens are opposed and want to unravel the draft law again. “Thoroughness before speed”: The saying by FDP politicians about the heating law now corresponds to the reasoning of the Greens.
Katharina Beck, the financial policy spokeswoman for the Green Party, said she still had “question marks” about Lindner’s law. “There are also things where you can ask yourself, do they really have the investment impulse now or do we prefer to invest them differently?” she told Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. It is good to sharpen up and make the law “a little better and more targeted”.
The traffic light had planned it differently
Greens associated with the Minister for Family Affairs accuse Lindner of having scheduled an appointment at the federal press conference to present the Growth Opportunities Act, although it was clear to him that approval in the cabinet was shaky. That’s the only reason – and not because of Paus’ veto – that the whole thing is so overcooked. No matter how you look at it, the Union is happy about the new noise. The AfD anyway.
The SPD, FDP and Greens had decided to do everything better after the summer break. In July there was another coalition committee to lighten the mood after the grueling first few months of this year. The traffic light politicians had promised themselves to take a deep breath in the summer and then go into the second half of this legislative period with a lot of good will. And now this.
For the Greens, the whole thing is doubly bad. The constant argument in the traffic light also puts pressure on their poll numbers – less than eight weeks before the important elections in Hesse and Bavaria. Tarek Al-Wazir is Hesse’s Economics Minister and is going into the election campaign with a promise to support companies in these difficult times. As a candidate for the post of prime minister, by the way.
In addition, the Greens are divided among themselves. And everything looks as if the inner-party dispute will again run along the wing lines: Realos think Paus should have approved the law, leftists are happy about their veto. This thesis cannot be verified one hundred percent in view of the sparse comments, but Greens, who are asked the wing question, at least do not want to clearly contradict it.