As of: April 4, 2024, 5:40 a.m
By: Babett Gumbrecht
Comments
Press
Split
The finance minister wants an update on citizens' money and is increasing the pressure on the SPD and the Greens. A change of coalition no longer seems out of the question.
Berlin - Christian Lindner, the Federal Minister of Finance and member of the FDP, is calling for a redesign of citizens' money. He told the
Rheinische Post
: “Citizens’ money needs an update. It is not an unconditional basic income.” This liberal demand has not only been known since yesterday. The tense financial situation, which is supposed to be improved under Lindner's supervision, is also known.
It is therefore not surprising that Lindner wants to see as many people as possible working. He emphasized: “We have to do everything we can to ensure that people who can work actually work.” There are many ways to achieve this - from the question of the reasonableness of work, to sanctions, to work options such as the one-euro Jobs.
Christian Lindner (FDP) sees little scope for his plans. © Ann-Marie Utz/dpa
Citizens' money as a controversial topic: Is the traffic light coalition bursting?
Financial issues have been a point of contention in the coalition for some time. In addition to citizens' benefit, basic child welfare is also a recurring conflict issue. The constant disagreements in the traffic light coalition are worrying many politicians with a view to the 2025 federal election. However, a political change could come in just a few weeks. There are persistent rumors circulating in Berlin that Lindner could soon pull the ripcord and cause the traffic light coalition to fail.
The scenario is clear: the Liberals could leave the coalition with the SPD and the Greens. According to experts, the Greens and the SPD could then continue as a minority government.
Lindner could soon have a reason to leave the alliance, as the next budget is about to be drawn up. That means one thing above all: even more conflicts. Lindner is determined to push through his austerity measures, even if he has to force them on his colleagues from the SPD and Greens, according to Der
Spiegel
.
My news
1500 euros per month - Citizen's benefit recipient emphasizes: "It's just too much money for my standards" read
WhatsApp disruption: Tens of thousands of people cannot use Messenger
Contribution service sends letters to thousands of households - if you don't respond, you risk being fined
“Accumulation of vehicles” spotted: Russia’s army is moving new tanks to Crimea
“That touched a nerve”: Breakfast café has to close shortly after opening – due to too many guests reading
Pensions in Germany: Voluntary additional payments reach record highs
History has shown that such a coalition change scenario is possible. In 1982, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Otto Graf Lambsdorff led the FDP out of the social-liberal coalition in order to continue governing with the Union. Lindner said in an interview with Die
Zeit
that this step, which plunged the FDP into an existential crisis, “always impressed” him. However, he immediately assured that the current federal government would find common positions.
Lindner is keeping his options open: pressure could mean concessions in terms of content
Lindner therefore still rules out the end of the traffic light coalition. But he would have the courage to take this step. As early as 2017, he let the exploratory talks with the Union and the Greens for a Jamaica coalition fail. By keeping this scenario open, Lindner is putting pressure on the SPD and the Greens. And pressure could lead to concessions on content.
These are urgently needed in the budget negotiations. Citizens' money in particular will continue to cause controversy. Lindner is of the opinion that the citizen's benefit is viewed by a large part of the population as unfair because it offers too few incentives to take up work.
Lindner told Bild
that
he lacked the coalition partners' respect for taxpayers. It's not just low-income earners who deserve fairness. “The performance of specialists and managers as well as medium-sized companies must also be recognized. Treating these people as pack mules takes away their desire to perform.”
(bg/dpa)
Editor Babett Gumbrecht wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
Find out more about our AI principles here.