Finance
Kühnert: Criticism of the budget package “normal in principle”
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert considers criticism of the austerity plans to be normal. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Many people are very dissatisfied with the budget compromise. The SPD politician believes it is normal that interest groups such as farmers express their dissatisfaction.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert defended the federal government’s budget package and described criticism of the austerity measures as “in principle normal”. Because in the end it is the Bundestag and not the federal government, which makes the proposals, that has to decide on the budget – with changes if necessary, said Kühnert in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. It is also normal for interest groups such as “organized farmers” to express their dissatisfaction.
With outraged protests and a long column of tractors, thousands of farmers took part on Monday Berlin made a front against the planned end to tax relief. The plans would burden the industry with an additional billion euros per year.
Kühnert emphasized that there were also some “bitter pills” to swallow for the SPD. “But we support this in the sense of an overall compromise, and so I appeal to everyone else too.” Anyone who wants to change something in the package will then have to save the money elsewhere. However, his party is also prepared to talk again in principle about suspending the debt brake again.
The discussion was triggered by savings plans for the 2024 federal budget, which became known after an agreement between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). The savings had become necessary in various areas of the budget because the Federal Constitutional Court had overturned several previous budget management practices.