The SPD, Greens and FDP are heading towards coalition negotiations. In the result paper of the traffic light explorations, critics particularly complain that the question of financing remains open.
After the conclusion of their explorations, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP spread confidence that the targeted formation of a government will succeed. Greens boss Robert Habeck said on Friday evening in the ZDF’s “Heute Journal” that failure “would really be a surprise”. “I don’t think so any more.” But there are still a few conflicts. SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz affirmed in the ARD “Tagesthemen” the goal of having formed a new government before Christmas. There is particular criticism of the question of how the plans for a possible traffic light government are to be financed.
“The result of these explorations contains more questions than answers,” said CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak of the “Rheinische Post”. “A lot of suggestions were simply thrown together – without specifically saying what that means for the people. In particular, the question of financial feasibility remains open.”
Verdi boss Frank Werneke complained in the same newspaper that when it came to the necessary finances, the exploratory paper was “unfortunately very bloodless”. “No reliable plans are shown for the necessary future investments in climate protection, not even the financing volume is described. If the coalition negotiations begin soon, this must be followed up urgently.”
Coalition negotiations from next week
The SPD, Greens and FDP are heading for coalition negotiations for a traffic light government almost three weeks after the general election. “We are convinced that we can conclude an ambitious and sustainable coalition agreement,” the three parties said on Friday in a joint paper on the outcome of their exploratory talks. The SPD executive committee voted unanimously for negotiations on Friday. For the Greens, a small party congress should decide on Sunday, the FDP leadership then on Monday.
“We will guarantee the necessary future investments within the framework of the constitutional debt brake,” says the paper. “We will not introduce any new property taxes.” Income tax, corporate tax or VAT should not be increased.
According to Habeck, the traffic light parties are further on the financing issue than the text suggests. “The finances are better supported in the talks than the paper shows,” said Habeck on ZDF. “The sentences are Spartan, I admit. But we have given a lot of thought to how these sentences will then be backed up with concrete possibilities in the coalition negotiations.”
Scholz referred in the ARD to the expectation of high tax revenues thanks to economic growth. He also spoke of enabling private investments, for example in the expansion of wind and solar energy. FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing told the “Rheinische Post”: “If we approach it skilfully, we can use the available public funds in such a way that they mobilize additional private capital. Then great things arise without incurring large debts.” In the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”, however, he also made it clear that the future government would be forced to “review previous editions in order to gain additional room for maneuver”.
Criticism of finance
Jessica Rosenthal, federal chairwoman of the Jusos – the youth organization of the SPD, was also critical of the financial aspects of the paper. “What we can’t understand is how the investment is going to be paid for in the end and why the redistributive issues that are important to us aren’t there,” she told news channel Phoenix.
The parliamentary manager of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jan Korte, accuses the SPD and the Greens of breaking election promises. “The champagne corks will pop at the FDP and business associations. As feared, there is nothing left of a number of central election promises made by the SPD and the Greens,” said Korte of the German press agency. A wealth tax will not be introduced, nor will citizens’ insurance or a strengthening of the statutory pension come.
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich told the dpa, of course, there is no one-to-one election program. “But I think people will find the ideas of social democracy in this paper with minimum wages, pension security, basic child benefits and 400,000 new apartments and at the same time recognize the green and liberal profile,” he emphasized.
Failure is still possible
Verdi boss Werneke also sees positive aspects. “It’s good: a minimum wage of twelve euros comes, the pension level remains stable – this in the event of a rejection of an increase in the retirement age, better conditions in care, an offensive in non-profit housing construction,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. The fact that the SPD and the Greens were able to prevail on the minimum wage, on the other hand, is rejected by the Federal Association of German Employers’ Associations (BDA). “The fact that this new traffic light alliance wants to overturn the minimum wage commission is out of the question. This is a serious encroachment on collective bargaining,” said employer president Rainer Dulger to the newspapers of the “Funke media group”. For companies, a minimum wage of 12 euros would be “extremely dangerous,” he warned.
The start of formal coalition negotiations is an important step on the way to a new government. In previous exploratory talks, the SPD, Greens and FDP explored differences and similarities without obligation. Those who start coalition negotiations, on the other hand, do so with the clear intention of forming a government. However, failure cannot be ruled out either.
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki told the editorial network Germany about the results of the explorations that he was sure that “that is also the basis on which one can come to a conclusion that everyone can live with”. “This can be used to organize sensible government work for the next few years.”
The SPD won the election on September 26 with 25.7 percent, ahead of the Union (24.1 percent).