“Guns and butter’: Ifo boss believes cuts in social benefits are inevitable. “But cannons without butter, cannons without Butter, doesn't work”: Clemens Fuest, President of the Ifo economic research institute.
Finance Minister calls for a multi-year moratorium on social spending and subsidies in order to meet the desired defense budget. The largest item in the federal budget is the social budget, which accounts for almost 40 percent of government spending. A further 47 billion euros are earmarked for social benefits.