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FDP leader Lindner at the constituent session of the Bundestag: controversial savings plans
Photo: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP
Two leading economists have warned against leaving FDP leader Christian Lindner the post of Federal Minister of Finance.
"The problem is not just that Lindner's economic policy - be it the debt brake or the budget rules for Europe - is an accumulation of conservative clichés," write Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and his colleague Adam Tooze in a guest article for the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit".
"Much more important is that these are clichés from a bygone era, namely those of the 1990s."
Lindner, a financial policy crash test?
In view of the European and global challenges, "large investments by the public sector are of central importance" - not a return to an austerity course like the one the FDP has in mind, the scientists write.
"For its own sake, Lindner should be spared the impossible task of having to apply his antediluvian budgetary agenda to today's financial situation."
"Neither Germany nor Europe can afford this type of crash test," the economic historian Tooze and Stiglitz continued.
With Robert Habeck as minister and European politician Sven Giegold as state secretary, the Greens have a "plausible leadership duo" on offer.
Both Linder and Habeck have signaled an interest in the position at the top of the finance ministry.
However, the possible traffic light coalitionists regularly emphasize that personnel decisions should only be clarified at the very end of the ongoing coalition negotiations.
The talks should be concluded by the end of November.
mic / AFP
