The traffic light government continues to wrestle over the federal budget for 2025. Chancellor Scholz rejected ARD summer interview He again rejects cuts in the social sector. However, he would like to see more accuracy in the Citizens’ Allowance.
In the dispute over the budget negotiations, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected cuts in the social sector. “We will defend the welfare state and we will also develop it,” he said in the ARD summer interviewThere have been many improvements, said Scholz, citing increases in the minimum wage and child benefit as well as what he believes to be stable pensions.
Previously, the SPD left had increased the pressure on Scholz and submitted a member request to the SPD party executive. In it, the initiators firmly reject cuts in the areas of social welfare, health, youth, family, education, democracy and development cooperation.
Scholz: Budget next month
The background to this is a budget deficit of around 25 billion euros. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) insists that the debt brake is adhered to and is demanding significant cuts in the budgets of several ministries, especially the social affairs department.
Scholz expects the budget to be passed next month. The Chancellor left open whether a state of emergency could ultimately be declared due to the high costs of the billions of euros in support for Ukraine.
“Higher Accuracy” with the citizen’s allowance
When it comes to the issue of citizen’s income, he announced a “greater accuracy”. It should not happen “that someone works, conceals their income and then at the same time receives citizen’s income.”
“AfD-Prime Minister would be very depressing”
Scholz also commented on the upcoming state elections. New state parliaments will be elected in Thuringia and Saxony on September 1st, and the vote in Brandenburg will take place on September 22nd. In polls, the AfD is ahead in all three states, albeit by a small margin in some cases.
Scholz is counting on the fact that there will be no AfD prime minister after the state elections in the east. An AfD head of government “would be very depressing,” said the Chancellor. However, he is “quite confident” that in the next elections, when the government is at stake, the other parties alongside the AfD will have the majority in the state parliaments.
Scholz commented on the fact that the SPD is only getting seven percent in some parts of the East with the words: “Something is going on there.” There is “no way around it.” Many people do not agree with the support for Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia. “This is also reflected in the election results,” said Scholz. But there is “no alternative to changing that.”
Sharp criticism of Corona policy
Looking back, Scholz was also critical of Germany’s Corona policy: “There were a few decisions that were over the top.” He mentioned, for example, the ban on walks in the forest. “I didn’t understand that. And I don’t think that should have happened.”
The Chancellor also criticized the school closures: “This is an issue that has been on my mind the whole time – even during the Corona crisis. And I was one of those who advocated caution. And if you look at the balance sheet now, we have closed more schools in Germany than in other countries. And that was certainly not the right decision.”
He also spoke out in favor of citizens’ councils reviewing Corona policy. The advantage of citizens’ councils, according to Scholz, is that they are not only made up of experts and MPs, “but also citizens.”
The summer interview with Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be broadcast by ARD today at 6:00 p.m. on channel one.