As of: February 29, 2024, 8:50 p.m
By: Florian Naumann
Comments
Press
Split
The debt brake continues to divide the traffic lights.
The CDU, of all people, has now provided the Greens with a great template - Christian Lindner reacts harshly.
Munich/Berlin – Good work, bad performance: With this simple duality, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert just explained the plight of the traffic light coalition at the Nockherberg.
The next day, the alliance partners delivered the next bombshell in terms of discord: on Thursday (February 29th), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) from Brazil accused the Greens of “calling for a break in the coalition”.
The reason for the trouble is once again the debt brake.
The Greens, in the person of parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge, indirectly identified a statement by Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) as an opportunity to override Lindner's veto against brake reforms.
“The Greens are calling on the Chancellor to break the coalition”: Debt brake is heating up the traffic light tempers
“More and more prime ministers, including those from the CDU, are expressing their willingness to negotiate with the federal government about modernizing the debt rules,” said Dröge.
She appealed to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to put the issue on the agenda at the Prime Minister's Conference.
Christian Lindner at a citizens' dialogue in Lübeck at the beginning of February.
© IMAGO/Chris Emil Janssen
Lindner reacts with alarm.
“You have to say calmly that the Greens are calling on the Chancellor to break the coalition,” the FDP leader told dpa on the sidelines of a meeting of the G20 finance ministers in São
Paulo
.
The issue of the debt brake has been dividing the coalition for months.
“The Greens should draw the consequences”: Lindner is upset about the debt brake
Lindner emphasized that the guidelines for financial policy were anchored in the coalition agreement.
“If the Greens no longer want to commit to this, they should say it clearly and draw the consequences,” he emphasized.
In the paper, the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed to comply with the requirements of the constitutionally enshrined debt brake.
However, the FDP did not always align its demands exactly with the coalition agreement - for example in the dispute over the lifespan of German nuclear power plants.
Lindner has been arguing with Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) for weeks on the topic of relief for the economy.
Both repeatedly emphasized that the companies needed support - but insisted on completely different approaches.
“If we really want to develop force to keep up with the USA, we can’t do it with a zero round of citizen’s money,” warned Habeck in February.
My news
2 hours ago
Reveal secret service information?
Security expert horrified by Scholzlesen
EU Parliament accepts controversial driving license reform: “Green control fantasies cannot find a majority” read
German Leopard 2: Ukraine soldier names life-threatening vulnerabilityread
Putin's speech to the nation: Kremlin boss threatens the West but ignores two important issues
With “Excalibur” ammunition: Ukrainians present a high-precision howitzer – and immediately have a problem reading it
Legal weed not before October 1st?
Federal states want to delay cannabis law
Dröge also emphasized that a debt brake reform was necessary “to ensure the competitiveness of the German economy”.
In an interview with the
Munich Merkur
, however, Lindner referred to a possible “dynamization package” including a reduction in bureaucracy – or even a slimming down of the supply chain law.
Debt brake template from the CDU
Rhein had previously presented itself as a “big supporter” of the debt brake, but left room for discussion.
“There are clever proposals for reforming the debt brake on the table, especially from the Advisory Council, which must be taken very seriously,” he said in the
Tagesspiegel
.
He referred to statements from the circle of economists.
However, the Hessian Prime Minister emphasized that the possibilities that the debt brake already offers should first be exhausted.
In this context, he spoke of necessary measures to prevent Ukraine from being defeated in the war against Russia and to strengthen the Bundeswehr.
“The CDU will always lend a hand for the security of our country,” the Prime Minister made clear.
The SPD and the Greens are the main supporters of a reform of the debt brake, while the CDU/CSU and FDP reject it.
However, there are also some CDU politicians who are open to a change, including the governing mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, and currently also Rhein.
(
fn with material from AFP
)
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.