Because of the budget crisis, Finance Minister Lindner is calling for annual savings in the double-digit billion range. “Structural changes” are necessary. At the same time, he was confident that the 2024 budget will be approved this year.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has sworn the traffic light coalition to strict austerity measures in view of the budget crisis. “We are talking about a significant additional need for consolidation,” said the FDP leader to the “Handelsblatt”. It’s worth tens of billions of dollars per year. It is advisable to look at the 2024 and 2025 budgets together. “In my view, structural changes are inevitable,” said Lindner.
He was confident that the budget for 2024 will be approved this year. “The federal government will try to make this possible,” said Lindner. But the decision lies with Parliament.
“The well-being of the economy must not only depend on subsidies”
In principle, there is “no reason to panic” with regard to the budget crisis, said Lindner. Legal obligations would be complied with anyway. “We are also working on solutions.” The importance of financial aid should not be underestimated, but neither should it be overestimated. “It would be bad news if the welfare and woe of the German economy depended on state subsidies.”
The debt brake is to be suspended again this year, but Lindner wants to stick to it again in the future. This corresponds to the constitution, and the necessary two-thirds majority is missing in the Bundestag. The finance minister also rejected tax increases. On the contrary, income tax relief totaling 15 billion euros would come into force at the beginning of 2024.
Esken and Lang for further suspension of the debt brake
SPD leader Saskia Esken, however, reiterated her call for the debt brake to be suspended in 2024. “We are still in a crisis situation, the effects of which will also be felt in the coming year,” she told the Funke media group. It will therefore be necessary to extend the exemption for 2024 as well.
At the same time, Esken spoke out in favor of reforming the debt brake. This should not become a “brake on the future”. It must be reformed in such a way that urgently needed investments in a modern and climate-neutral future are possible in times of multiple upheavals.
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang made a similar statement. “We will have to continue to talk about investment scope for the next few years and of course continue to talk about the debt brake,” she said on ZDF’s “heute journal”. The government must discuss a suspension for around 2024 or 2025. In addition, “a fundamental reform” of the debt brake must be considered, which requires a two-thirds majority, said Lang, referring to the Union.
Union faction leader Frei rejects reform
The parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, rejects reform. The current regulation already allows flexibility to react to bad times and is therefore “an intelligent and good, generation-appropriate debt brake,” said the CDU politician Deutschlandfunk.
Frei called the planned suspension of the debt brake this year a “daring legal maneuver.” He finds it “difficult that at the beginning of the year people are not talking about an emergency situation, but we basically already had the basis for what is now to become the basis for an emergency situation a year ago.” He didn’t know “what new findings would have emerged and what justification they wanted to add.” When asked whether the Union would sue again, Frei said he expressly wanted to leave that open.
Lindner: Help for flood victims not certain
Finance Minister Lindner wants to present a supplementary budget for the current year next week. According to him, in addition to the climate and transformation fund, the economic and stabilization fund, from which the electricity and gas price brakes are financed, must be placed on a different legal basis this year and terminated in 2024.
The development aid fund for the victims of the 2021 flood, which was set up by the previous government, is also not constitutionally safe. “I also hope that the CDU/CSU will support the legally secure continuation of the fund for flood victims,” said Lindner.
Kubicki calls for a reduction in aid payments
FDP Federal Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki opposed the intended suspension of the debt brake. “In my opinion, such a step is difficult to convey,” he told the Funke media group. A new suspension is legally possible, but it creates “significant trust problems”.
Instead, Kubicki called for a paradigm shift in budget policy. It is imperative to talk about reducing certain government spending. “The fact that we pay well over 30 billion euros for development aid, for example, is difficult to convey given the severity of the budgetary problem.”
Federal Council deals with budget crisis
The Federal Council is meeting today for the first time since the Karlsruhe ruling – and will also deal with the budget crisis. Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig said in ARD morning magazine, she considers the proposal to declare an emergency for 2023 to be correct in relation to the energy crisis. It is important that the electricity and gas price brakes can be continued, said the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Countries like China or the USA support their economies – “we have to do that too”. Suspending the debt brake for 2024 must be “properly examined,” said the SPD politician.
Hans-Joachim Vieweger, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, November 24th, 2023 8:13 a.m