As of: February 6, 2024, 7:24 a.m
By: Stephanie Munk
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Split
Companies should be relieved, Scholz and Lindner believe, but there is disagreement about “how”.
Now Scholz intervenes - and Habeck receives a letter from the FDP.
Berlin - There is a lot of tension between the coalition partners the Greens and the FDP: Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) have different ideas about how Germany's competitiveness could be strengthened and companies relieved.
So far there has been no word of power from the Chancellor, and Scholz reacted cautiously to the debate as usual.
The Growth Opportunities Act is a “very good project,” said Olaf Scholz on Monday (February 5).
Scholz said he hoped that this very concrete and practical project, “which is intended to make it easier for companies to invest, will become something even with the approval of the federal states.” We should concentrate on that now.
A mediation process is currently underway between the Bundestag and the Bundesrat on the law.
Thoughtful in the Bundestag: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner on the government bench.
© IMAGO
Habeck and Linder in a dispute over ideas on economic policy
Scholz is probably alluding to Habeck's new mind games.
He brought a special fund into play to solve structural problems.
Special assets – the word is now likely to be an emotive word for Finance Minister Lindner.
It has blown up in the traffic light coalition's face in the last few weeks and violates Lindner's principle of not incurring any new debt.
Lindner directly rejected a special fund - it meant new debts.
Habeck's idea was "surprising in every respect," the FDP leader said quite venomously to
Welt am Sonntag
.
“The Minister of Economic Affairs is saying that he is dissatisfied with the federal government’s existing economic policy and that he believes something completely different is necessary.”
Lindner wants to abolish the solidarity surcharge for companies
Lindner, on the other hand, came up with another proposal to ease the burden on the economy: abolishing the solidarity surcharge for companies.
The chairmen of the coalition partners SPD and the Greens immediately rejected this.
SPD leader Saskia Esken said on Monday that she did not think the plan could be financed.
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang is also against it.
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In the ARD “
Report from Berlin
” on Sunday evening (February 4th), Lindner reinforced his position.
If the economics and finance ministers thought that something had to change in economic policy, “then that must now have concrete consequences for the federal government and for the coalition,” he emphasized.
If you really want to do something about taxes, the easiest and quickest way would be to abolish the solidarity surcharge for companies.
This would also have the advantage that states and municipalities would not be burdened.
But you then have to talk about counter-financing in the coalition.
Habeck, however, is skeptical.
Canceling the solidarity entirely would increase the budget gap, said the Vice Chancellor on the ARD program “
Caren Miosga
”.
The taxpayers' association and business representatives take Lindner's side in solidarity
Lindner is getting support from the Taxpayers' Association, which wants to go even further than Lindner: "The solidarity should be dropped completely and for everyone!" said Taxpayers' Association President Reiner Holznagel to the newspapers of the
Funke media group
on Tuesday (February 6th).
It’s all about “protecting trust,” says Holznagel.
“People have relied on the fact that the solidarity will no longer apply when the special financial aid for the five new federal states expires.” The traffic light government should “start abolishing solidarity immediately.”
Many small and medium-sized businesses would also benefit from this.
The Soli was introduced in 1991 - a year after German unification - and was intended to help finance economic development in the new federal states.
Since 2021, only top earners and corporations have to pay an additional levy of 5.5 percent on income and corporation tax.
In 2023, the solidarity provided the federal government with income of around twelve billion euros.
The head of the German Economic Institute (IW), Michael Hüther, also welcomed Lindner's initiative.
“The abolition of the residual solidarity, which is essentially a corporate tax in disguise, is long overdue,” said Hüther to the
Rheinische Post
.
Germany has long been a high-tax country.
Habeck only fears “homeopathic relief” due to disputes with federal states
The government's Growth Opportunities Act has not yet cleared the hurdle in the Federal Council.
There are concerns in the countries.
Habeck spoke to “
Caren Miosga
” about a relief volume of eight billion euros and the danger that there would only be “homeopathic” relief because of the dispute with the federal states.
Regarding his push in the Bundestag for a new special fund, the Vice Chancellor said: “This is an invitation” to talk about easing the burden on the economy.
Union calls for traffic light action - “impression of ongoing dispute” is increasing
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt called on the government to act: “There needs to be real relief for the economy through lower corporate taxes, competitive energy prices and less bureaucracy,” said Dobrindt on Monday.
The chairwoman of the SME and Economic Union (MIT), Gitta Connemann, told
Welt-TV
: “Once again the impression of the ongoing dispute in the traffic lights is increasing.
The Economics Minister doesn't speak to the Finance Minister, the Chancellor has disappeared anyway." The CDU member of the Bundestag warned: "The water is up to the companies' necks - the companies don't have another two years."
In a letter to Habeck, Buschmann calls for faster relief from bureaucracy
Meanwhile, FDP Justice Minister Marco Buschmann raised another economic dispute in a letter to Habeck: The FDP politician asked when and how Habeck would implement the intention agreed in the coalition agreement to be able to carry out procurement procedures more quickly and with less bureaucracy in the future wants to carry out the act.
In the letter written on Monday (February 5th), which is available to the
German Press Agency
, Buschmann writes: He welcomes the key points presented by the Ministry of Economics in November, but now wants to ask whether the Ministry of Economics has now developed concrete regulations on this "and what timetable is envisaged for the legislative process”.
Buschmann with criticism of Habeck - handwritten appeal to bureaucracy
He also hopes that Habeck's ministry's contributions to reducing unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles "can be further expanded", especially with a view to reducing the burden.
The Federal Minister of Justice added a handwritten appeal to his letter: “We must make even faster progress in reducing bureaucracy!” Because the economy urgently needs to pick up speed again.
There is ongoing dispute not only in the traffic light coalition in the federal government - in Bavaria there also seems to be increasing tension between Markus Söder's coalition of CSU and Free Voters.
Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger in particular has been criticized.
According to information from the
Münchner Merkur,
Aiwanger is also facing expulsion from the Senate of the Max Planck Society because he has not attended a single meeting there for over five years.
(Stephanie Munk/dpa)