2024-07-04 08:19:06
In the budget dispute, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert sees his party as having a decisive influence. He referred to the position of the Federal Chancellor.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert has made a clear statement to the FDP in the budget dispute. He apparently claims that his party has the final say in the negotiations on federal funds. “The finance minister is in office on the recommendation of the Chancellor – not the other way around,” Kevin Kühnert told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” (Saturday) with a view to the dispute over possible exceptions to the debt brake and FDP finance minister Christian Lindner, who rejects this. The ongoing billions in aid for Ukraine are considered one such possible special case.
“Olaf Scholz is convinced – like the entire SPD – that we are confronted with crises and crisis costs that were not foreseeable in the long term,” emphasised Kühnert. “From the Jusos to the Chancellor, we all share the scepticism as to whether it is possible and sensible to close the entire gap in the budget through savings.” However, his party is also prepared to compromise, “sometimes even to make painful compromises”.
The traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP has been wrangling for months over a draft budget for the coming year. While Finance Minister Lindner insists that the debt brake is adhered to, the SPD is demanding more leeway for new debt. Scholz, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and Lindner had originally planned a cabinet decision on July 3. However, this date can no longer be met because a political agreement still has to be translated into a draft ready for approval. The cabinet decision is now targeted for July 17.
An alliance of trade unions, social and environmental associations has once again appealed to the federal government to avert the announced cuts to the 2025 budget and to exhaust all options for further borrowing. “We are deeply concerned about the impending cuts and call on you to correct your course,” the signatories warn in an open letter to the traffic light government, which is available to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the “Rheinische Post”: “The most important thing is to set priorities. You can’t fulfill all your wishes.” There is no alternative to “filling everything up with money from debt.” Two thirds of the ministries have already drawn up their budgets for 2025 and have adhered to the guidelines. “The rest will follow, I’m sure of that.”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said at an event organized by the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, the NDR and the “Hannoverscher Allgemeine Zeitung” that it was important “not to put social justice against peacekeeping.” She sees the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine as an emergency situation that would justify the federal government exceeding the borrowing limit of the debt brake.