2023-12-09 19:05:14
© Reuters.
By Andreas Rinke and Christoph Steitz
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday he was confident that tough negotiations with his coalition partners to set the country’s budget for 2024, following a landmark court ruling, would result in a deal.
Speaking at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) conference, Scholz made it clear, however, that there would be no cuts to the welfare state, an area where Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats (FDP), a fiscally conservative party, called for reforms.
“It is a very difficult task,” Scholz told party members in reference to the ongoing budget negotiations. “But I would like to take this opportunity to convey confidence that we will succeed and in a way that is important for the future of this country,” he added.
Scholz’s governing alliance, which also includes the Green Party, is still reeling from last month’s court ruling that opened a €60 billion hole in its finances and forced it to lift a constitutionally enshrined “debt brake” for the budget 2023.
Ongoing talks focus on the question of whether a lifting of the debt brake is also possible next year, to close the 17 billion euro budget deficit, leaving spending on industrial, climate policy and social projects uncertain.
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