2024-07-16 21:31:42
Robert Habeck wants to leave the troubles of Berlin behind him on his summer trip through Germany. But the crises keep catching up with him.
Robert Habeck has a cold, but he wants to finally take a breather. The Vice Chancellor is standing in the courtyard of a hotel in Stuttgart on Monday, cameras and microphones are aimed at him. He has to say something to the journalists now, but his voice is hoarse and his face is a little scrunched up.
Habeck is “on the pitch” this week, which is the motto of his summer trip during the European Football Championship. Visiting companies, shaking hands, taking photos, talking, talking, talking. Or as he puts it: “Experience the country in all its breadth.”
So a little breather after the budget marathon? Habeck probably already knew this morning that nothing would come of it. And it’s not just because of his cold. Berlin politicians are following him through the seven federal states of his tour.
Robert Habeck must defend the difficult budget compromise for which he himself is responsible, especially against criticism from within his own ranks. So that the traffic light coalition has a future in all the global crises. And as if that were not enough, he will soon have to convince many that he himself could be the political future. In his party too.
Somehow there used to be more summer.
It was damn close. Things were at a critical juncture several times during the night of last Friday when Habeck negotiated the budget with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Some wanted to close the billion-euro gap by declaring a state of emergency because of Ukraine and suspending the debt brake. Scholz and his SPD in particular, but also Habeck and the Greens. Only Lindner’s FDP did not want that under any circumstances.
So what did the three of them do? They scraped together roughly the same amount using various tricks. They want to pay interest later in the future, give a lot of money to the railways and motorways without having to meet the debt brake, and oblige the next government to suddenly spend 28 billion euros more on defense from 2028. Because then the special fund will be used up. That’s creative, but is it enough?
The traffic light coalition wouldn’t be the traffic light coalition if this hadn’t been discussed long ago. And this despite the fact that many details are still unknown. Everyone is waiting for July 17, when the draft law will finally provide figures, data and facts.
But even the little that is known is enough to cause a lot of controversy. Should we attract foreign skilled workers by making them pay less tax than Germans in the first few years? Even the responsible minister, Hubertus Heil, finds this difficult. And is it reasonable that people on citizen’s allowance have to take jobs that require them to travel three hours?
A particularly difficult question for Habeck: is it enough to spend just 1.2 billion euros more on defense next year in times of war? For Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who had wanted 6.7 billion euros, the answer is clear. For Vice Chancellor Habeck, it is more complicated. He also thinks that it is far too little money. But he negotiated it. He is responsible.
When he was standing in the courtyard of a hotel in Stuttgart on Monday and was asked about it, Robert Habeck tried to convey two messages. The first: the budget adheres to the financial conditions that have been agreed upon. Commonly known as the debt brake. The second message: “The financial conditions do not match Germany’s security situation.” That is his opinion and that of the Greens. But not the opinion of everyone in the government. In other words: Unfortunately, there is no other way with the FDP, even if it is wrong.