The traffic light coalition has been arguing about the budget for days, especially the defense budget.
An agreement does not appear to be in sight.
Berlin – In the past week there has been repeated talk of a dispute between Economics Minister Robert Habeck (The Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).
It is about the question of how the next budget should be designed - the main points of contention are new funds for the Bundeswehr and the debt brake.
The background is the demands of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD): He wants an additional ten billion euros a year for the defense budget.
Now other voices from the three coalition parties have spoken.
Debt brake and tax increases or not: budget dispute never ends
This is what SPD general secretary Kevin Kühnert said on Monday (February 20).
He indicated a possible exception to the debt brake and advocated "that we expand the budgetary leeway".
Although he did not directly call for an exception to the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law, he referred to the special situation in which Germany found itself as a result of the Ukraine war.
Regarding possible tax increases, he said: "The coalition agreement did not agree, but it was also not agreed in the coalition agreement that there was a war in Europe to which we had to react, and I think politics must always be able to react."
This is opposed to the position of the FDP, which consistently rejects tax increases.
For its Secretary General, Bijan Djir-Sarai, the priority now is to make Germany fit for the future as a business location.
"Regardless of what we are talking about - at the end of the day it must be clear: there will be no tax increases." Certain projects of the coalition would have to be prioritized again.
Traffic light dispute about more money for the Bundeswehr: The Greens say no
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil supported calls for more money for the Bundeswehr.
In doing so, he is also backing his party colleague Pistorius, who had made it clear that the Bundeswehr needs more money in addition to the 100 billion euro special fund to close gaps and balance deliveries to Ukraine.
Klingbeil's co-leader Saskia Esken disagrees: an additional ten billion euros a year for defense is "a lot of money," she told the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
.
For them, a special fund for education worth at least 50 billion euros is more important.
She also campaigned for a wealth levy for the particularly rich, in order to use the proceeds to combat child poverty.
The Greens also still have a strict stance against more money for the Bundeswehr in the 2024 budget. Party leader Omid Nouripour justifies this with the urgently needed reform of the structures within the Bundeswehr - especially the procurement system - which should be tackled first.
In addition, the question of social justice should not "get lost" in the budget priorities - like Esken, he mentioned the fight against child poverty.
In this context, he campaigned for basic child security that “must come as soon as possible”.
Despite the debates, Nouripour was convinced that the traffic light coalition would find a good solution.
The traffic light coalition could also benefit from the fact that all three governing parties agree, according to the Green leader, that the Bundeswehr needs to be better equipped.
