Lindner wants to save on social issues, state subsidies and international climate financing
Lindner names three specific areas of savings
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has specified in which areas he believes savings are possible in order to close the gaps in the budget for 2024. “We will have to deal with three major cost blocks,” said the FDP politician in an interview.
The traffic light is looking for savings opportunities for the federal budget. The finance minister now says: “We will have to deal with three major cost blocks.” He also announces a “job turbo”. But a partial household is sacred to him.
bFederal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has announced savings in areas such as social affairs and international climate financing in order to close the gaps in the budget for 2024. “We will have to deal with three major cost blocks,” the FDP leader told the newspapers of the Funke media group. This includes the area of social affairs, for which the federal government currently spends 45 percent of its spending. “We’ll see how we can become more accurate,” said Lindner.
For example, it’s about getting people into work more quickly – and thus reducing social spending for the state. “For the refugees from Ukraine, for example, there is a job boost,” said Lindner.
The Finance Minister also announced a review of the regulations on citizens’ money: The inflation rate is currently developing significantly better than was forecast when the standard rate was set for 2024. “The upcoming review of the gap between wages and social benefits will therefore have to look at the adjustment process. Because it always has to make a noticeable difference whether someone is working or not working,” emphasized Lindner.
The minister named international aid as a second area of savings: Germany is at the forefront in development cooperation and international climate financing. “We can happily stay in first place. But perhaps the gap to second place can be reduced,” said the FDP politician. The aim is a “fairer international burden sharing”.
Lindner also sees savings opportunities in government funding programs. “There are numerous subsidies for which the question must be asked whether they actually meet their objectives or whether they are out of date,” he said. It is still too early to name individual programs. This would “otherwise lead to a run on funding programs at the last few meters”.
“The defense budget remains untouched”
According to Lindner, there will be no cuts in the defense sector. “The defense budget remains untouched,” he assured.
The coalition partner SPD, on the other hand, does not just want to talk about savings, but also calls the agreed waiver of tax increases up for discussion. SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil told the German Press Agency that it was agreed in the coalition agreement that investments in the country’s future should be financed with money from the Corona pot. “It was derived from this that we are returning to the normal situation with the debt brake and that there is no need for a tax increase.” The former was eliminated by the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. “For us as the SPD, that of course also means that we are talking about the other two things now.”
Klingbeil promised difficult conversations. Currently these are mainly taking place in a three-way round with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and Lindner. The pressure is great: the coalition must reach an agreement within the next few days if it wants to decide on the budget for 2024 this year.
In mid-November, following a lawsuit from the Union, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the increase in the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) through unused loans from the corona pandemic to be inadmissible. This plunged the traffic light government into a budget crisis.
The federal government now wants to declare an emergency for 2023 and suspend the debt brake for the fourth time in a row. Next year, FDP leader Lindner wants to comply with the debt brake again. However, there are calls from the ranks of the coalition partners SPD and Greens to suspend this again in 2024.