2023-12-03 21:26:22
CDU leader Friedrich Merz still doesn’t want to change the debt brake. He said on Sunday in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”: “The debt brake is still in the constitution. And if the Bundestag group and I personally have our way, then it will stay there because at the moment we don’t have an emergency that is so great that we now have to take on even more debt.” The federal government will be responsible for the existing debts in the future Merz said that they would pay 40 billion euros in interest every year. “That’s more than the entire state budget of the state of Hesse.”
According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, there is a large gap in the federal government’s finances. The court had declared a reallocation of Corona loans worth 60 billion euros from the 2021 budget to be null and void. Among other things, a reform of the debt brake, which so far only allows new debt to a small extent, is now being discussed.
“The federal government would then have to make do with that.”
However, in order to reform this instrument, the Basic Law would have to be changed. This requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat – so the Union would have to be won over to the project.
Politicians from the ranks of the Greens and the SPD are also considering suspending the debt brake – as has happened several times – for the 2024 federal budget. However, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is very skeptical about this: He is not convinced that a new suspension can be justified in a constitutionally viable manner.
Christian Siedenbiedel Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7 Manfred Schäfers, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 11 A comment from Manfred Schäfers, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 70
Merz said on Sunday: “I share the assessment that there is neither a natural disaster that is so big that we have to do this now, nor is there an extraordinary emergency that would require this.” A constitutional budget for 2024 comes without additional ones debts. Merz said that 22 billion euros in additional debt is already possible next year. “I think the federal government would have to get by with that.”
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