As of: March 28, 2024, 11:35 a.m
By: Kilian Beck
Comments
Press
Split
Lindner is calling on Development Minister Schulze to make cuts in the budget for 2025. She wants to defend herself “vigorously” against this. If it fails, another traffic light promise is shaky.
Berlin – Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has apparently ordered new cuts to the house of Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD). In a letter from the Ministry of Finance, Schulze's ministry set a spending limit of around 9.8 billion euros for the coming 2025 financial year. This was reported by the
Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)
. In the current budget, the Development Ministry has a budget of around 11.2 billion euros. As early as mid-March, Minister Schulze made it clear at the federal press conference that she would “vigorously” oppose cuts because, for her, the “pain threshold” had already been clearly reached in the current budget.
“We have to fight the causes of flight, not refugees. Nobody flees voluntarily,” says Development Minister Svenja Schulze. © Britta Pedersen/dpa
Lindner calls for a “joint effort” for the debt brake
In a letter at the beginning of March, Lindner called for a “joint effort” from all ministries to comply with the debt brake, the
ARD
reported , citing a letter from the finance minister. To do this, he quickly changed the procedure for budget negotiations and imposed spending caps on all ministries. Until now, the ministries first provided key figures about their desired spending and then negotiations took place. According to the
SZ
, the renewed cut in the development budget will now undermine another promise of the traffic light federal government's coalition agreement: the Greens, FDP and SPD agreed in 2021 to spend 0.7 percent of German economic output on development aid annually.
Development Minister Schulze sees Germany’s “moral responsibility” for development aid
Schulze emphasized that because of its prosperity, Germany also has a “moral responsibility” towards fleeing or starving people. According to the United Nations, around 114 million people were displaced and 735 million people were hungry in 2023. The trend of both numbers is increasing. In addition, said Schulze, it is in Germany's interest to pursue development cooperation. Schulze's ministry spends almost half of its current budget on bilateral cooperation with developing countries. For example, money recently flowed to the controversial Palestinian relief organization UNRWA, to Ukraine, to India and to West Africa.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is demanding cuts from all federal government departments. © Jonathan Penschek/dpa/archive image
NGO boss: Lindnert sacrifices Germany's role in the world "on the altar of the debt brake"
When asked by the SZ
, the non-governmental organization One became
even clearer than Schulze: One Europe boss Stephan Exo-Kreischer spoke of a “clear-cutting” that indicated the finance minister’s “lack of global political understanding”. While Lindner is sacrificing more and more policy areas “on the altar of the debt brake,” Germany is losing “one partner after another” in Africa. And these states would then turn to Russia and China. In Africa, Russia has recently increasingly relied on the Wagner mercenary force, which was proven to have committed serious war crimes in Libya years ago. With its strategy of the so-called “New Silk Road”, China is also continuously expanding its political and economic influence in Africa.
My news
Nasty scam with the Rosenheim cops: Actors pack with atrocities read out in their name
1 hour ago
Flixbus accident on A9 near Leipzig: Witnesses report bus accident - police correct reading of victim numbers
She had planned Gottschalk's visit to BR completely differently: Schöneberger lost his composure
“Brazen” Ukrainian attacks in Russia? Ex-US general warns of “terrible recommendation” read
Strong earthquake in Italy and Austria: Read “Heard a terrible bang”.
Princess Kate has cancer – this is how Victoria of Sweden and Mette-Marit of Norway react
The traffic light federal government wants to agree on the budget for 2025 by the beginning of June
Svenja Schulze announced that she would “vigorously” defend herself against the cuts. The traffic light cabinet wants to approve the draft budget for 2025 at the beginning of July. Finance Minister Lindner has recently stated several times that, in addition to declaring a budget emergency to suspend the debt brake, he also rejects the outsourcing of expenses to special funds. Therefore, the coming federal budget will depend on economic performance. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy revised its forecast downwards on Wednesday (March 28): the researchers only expect nominal economic growth of 0.1 percent for 2024.
(kb)