In the fight to maintain the debt brake, the Federal Finance Minister from the FDP is gradually losing his colleagues. Christian Lindner himself is less determined than he publicly pretends.
Christian and Joachim, Joachim and Christian: When the Federal Minister of Finance and the President of the German Bundesbank invite you to a joint press conference, as has been the custom at G7 and G20 meetings for decades, there is always a touch of unity and harmony in the air. “I’ll hand it over to Joachim,” says Minister Lindner at the end of his opening speech, to which Bundesbanker Nagel immediately responds with a friendly “Thank you very much, Christian.” Christian and Joachim, these are two for whom it is true on a personal level – that was no different at the routine meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the 20 largest industrialized and emerging countries this week in São Paulo, Brazil.