2023-12-04 09:32:14
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) canceled a trip to the World Climate Conference in Dubai and the region planned from Monday evening due to the budget crisis. Habeck’s presence in Berlin is necessary in order to further advance talks on the 2024 budget following the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in Berlin on Sunday evening. This was done in consultation and at the request of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The trip will be postponed until the earliest possible date.
Habeck was nevertheless confident that the traffic light coalition would not collapse due to the dispute over the federal budget. “I am very optimistic that we are well on the way to reaching an agreement,” said the Green politician on Sunday evening on ARD television. It only works if unreasonable demands are endured in other places. In the discussions with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), an attempt is being made to “identify in the depth of budget tables or the climate and transformation fund what might come later, what we might not even want to do anymore or can”.
“Everyone repeats what they have always said”
Habeck did not respond to demands from the FDP for cuts in citizens’ money or development aid. “I can tell you that anything that is publicly demanded has a great chance of not happening,” said Habeck. He hears calls for tax increases from the SPD and added: “Everyone is saying a little bit about what they have always said, what is close to them and what they think less of. “That’s not expected to help solve the problem.”
The traffic light coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP is under great pressure to make decisions in the budget crisis. In an overview of the Federal Government’s schedule, the participation of, among others, Economics and Climate Protection Minister Habeck at the World Climate Conference in Dubai was scheduled for Tuesday.
“Need for action” of 17 billion euros
The negotiations on the budget are currently taking place primarily in a three-way round with Scholz, Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). The coalition must reach an agreement within the next few days – if it wants to decide on the budget for 2024 this year. There would have to be a basic political agreement by the cabinet meeting on Wednesday so that there is still enough time for the parliamentary procedure.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to the climate and transformation fund to be null and void. The money was approved as a Corona loan, but was subsequently intended to be used for climate protection and the modernization of the economy. At the same time, the judges decided that the state was not allowed to set aside emergency loans for later years. But the federal government did this in special funds – which is now tearing additional holes in the budget. Lindner sees a “need for action” of 17 billion euros for 2024.
Manfred Schäfers, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 12 Ralph Bollmann and Christian Geinitz, Dubai Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 5 Manfred Schäfers, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 10
What is now controversial are possible savings, especially in social spending – and whether the debt brake should be suspended again next year due to an emergency and with reference to the burdens caused by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
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.”
Merz continued: “I share the assessment that there is neither a natural disaster that is so big that we would have to do this now, nor is there an extraordinary emergency that would require this.” A constitutional budget for 2024 would do without additional debt . 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.”
Meanwhile, Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter has sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his communication during the budget crisis. “In this government statement, Olaf Scholz did not explain to anyone what really happened. He provided technical answers, not political ones. “I would have liked Olaf Scholz to say that he was sorry for this chaos,” Hofreiter told Spiegel magazine with a view to the government statement from Tuesday. Hofreiter said Scholz should have apologized to the citizens. “He is the chancellor, he is responsible.”
With a view to the current discussions between Scholz, Habeck and Lindner on the federal budget for 2024, Hofreiter called for a greater sense of responsibility. “I expect all three people involved to be honest and clear about the situation we are in right now. This is not about an internal German debate for gourmets. We are in a system competition: democracy against autocracy, war against peace,” said Hofreiter.
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