The bickering between the three members of the German coalition has not subsided even in August. The disputed budget for next year, which seemed to be on track after the partners presented an agreement in early July, is once again muddying the political arena. Finance Minister Christian Lindner, the liberal, is now casting doubt on the agreement and announcing a series of measures that defy his Social Democrat and Green partners. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat, is still on a clear schedule this week, but his holiday is far from being a quiet one.
As happens every few months, the spectre of a coalition break-up is once again stirring in Berlin’s political circles. With high-voltage regional elections just around the corner – Thuringia and Saxony are renewing their parliaments on 1 September with the far right in the lead in the two eastern states of the country – some are wondering whether Lindner is simply campaigning, or whether he wants to force a break-up. He certainly seems keen to stir up the mood. summerlochthe bloodless German summer period when the flight of politicians from the capital leaves the media with no news to report.
The umpteenth crisis came to the fore a few days ago, when a tanned Lindner gave an interview on public broadcaster ZDF and said that “it has become clear that there are constitutional risks and doubts about the concrete implementation,” referring to the budget agreement that had been so hard to get through. Just over a month ago, Lindner himself, together with Scholz and the Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate, the Green Robert Habeck, had appeared before the media to announce the pact.
After months of wrangling and when it seemed that their differences were unresolvable, they appeared smiling to calm the country after a sleepless night of last-minute negotiations. The relief was great. All three parties had just suffered a setback in the European elections in June. The SPD obtained the worst result in its century-old history, the Greens fell by almost half and the liberals barely exceeded the 5% limit. With the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in second place, the pressure to put aside the differences and agree on the public accounts was maximum.
Blow up the pact
Now Lindner is threatening to blow it up. According to a report he commissioned from several experts – conveniently leaked to the business daily Trade sheet a few days ago, parts of the budget could be unconstitutional. Specifically, the use of 4.9 billion euros for purposes other than those initially allocated, which were to offset the rise in gas prices. Still fresh in the minds of the Constitutional Court, which at the end of last year knocked out the government by annulling the accounting tricks that allowed the coalition to spend by evading the debt brake, which limits the deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product except in cases of emergency.
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The Karlsruhe court judges forced the withdrawal of 60 billion euros from the budget originally earmarked for a climate fund, opening a huge hole in public finances and causing the worst crisis between the partners to date. Lindner, whether out of conviction or political calculation, is not known, insists that he does not want to take any risks, that negotiations must be resumed and, probably, further cuts agreed. “It will not happen to me a second time!” he exclaimed during the television interview.
His remarks have gone down badly with his partners, who have not forgiven him for the public spectacle. “All this action we have seen in the last week was completely unnecessary. It was superfluous. It has further destabilised the country. The job of a federal government is to submit a budget to parliament, and that is what will happen next week,” said SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil on Monday. The Greens are also outraged: “This job is not about publicly ranting about things that are not working. The last few days have been a disaster, but we will improve and push through the budget,” Habeck announced during a hearing in Lower Saxony.
Both the Social Democrats and the Greens are refusing to reopen the budget issue, especially after the unusual pre-election event organised by the Liberals on Monday to set the agenda. The FDP appears in the polls for voting intentions in the regional elections on 1 September in the “Other” section. Neither party believes it can overcome the 5% barrier and enter parliament. This would explain the radical pro-car proposals they presented in Brandenburg (where elections will be held on 22 September) and which go far beyond their already well-known refusal to impose speed limits on motorways.
Lindner’s party is in favour of free parking in city centres or, alternatively, a flat rate for parking throughout Germany, similar to the Deutschlandticket, which allows the use of local and regional public transport throughout the country for 49 euros a month. It also believes that pedestrian zones and cycle paths should be stopped in order to make more space for cars in cities. Proposals that not even the conservative CDU would have supported 20 years ago and which directly challenge their green partners in government.
“This decision we have taken today is a clear signal that we are not participating in the cultural war against the car,” said the party’s secretary general, Bijan Djir-Sarai. “We stand for freedom of choice in mobility and the car is part of that,” he added, in a clear attempt to distance himself from the Greens’ policy. This is not the only outburst by the liberals against their partners in recent days. Senior FDP officials are making a tour by the media, taking advantage of the summer drought and desperately trying to attract the attention of their potential voters.
The head of his parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, attacked from the pages of the tabloid Image he pension moneythe social benefit that Scholz’s Social Democrats boast of. He said that it costs too much money and that it should be cut because the last increase was excessive. The party thus joined the campaign of Imagewhich has spent half the summer stirring up its readers against the citizen’s income with incendiary covers suggesting that the majority of recipients work illegally or that they live better off benefits than working. Precisely the arguments that the extreme right usually resorts to in order to mobilise voters concerned about the poor economic situation in Germany.
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