Coalition continues to discuss budget - Left calls dispute "irresponsible"
The Federal Cabinet had already approved the draft budget for 2025 in mid-July. At that time, there was still a funding gap of around 17 billion euros, which was to be significantly reduced through various measures. However, the exact path to achieve this sparked renewed controversy. The Federal Ministry of Finance last estimated the remaining gap to be around five billion euros. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) resumed talks.
That no solution was reached even on Friday initially drew sharp criticism from the opposition. "It is irresponsible that the traffic light coalition has still not found an agreement on the budget of the world's fourth-largest economy," explained the parliamentary business manager of the Left in the Bundestag, Christian Görke. "The budget must be sent to the Bundestag today. It is an insult to the Members of Parliament if the traffic light coalition sends a 480-billion-euro budget at the very last minute."
AfD deputy party leader Peter Boehringer stated that the coalition had "kept the public in suspense and repeatedly emphasized that the budget for 2025 would be brought on track in a timely manner. So far, they have not delivered."
Politicians from the FDP parliamentary group still expected a swift solution. Fraktion leader Christian Dürr described an agreement as a "manageable task" on Friday morning. The coalition still needs to agree on the financing of around five billion euros, which are "reasonable and solid to finance," he said in Bavarian Radio.
The FDP's parliamentary budget spokesman, Otto Fricke, also remained optimistic. "If you ask the Rhinelander and optimist in me, then I would say that we will reach an agreement still today," he said on Friday morning in the Deutschlandfunk.
The government had promised a solution by Friday to transmit the revised budget draft to the Bundestag and Bundesrat in time for further consultation. Fricke emphasized in this context that there is "no legal deadline." Instead, the Basic Law allows for "a lot of flexibility" here.
Asked why the talks have been dragging on so long, the FDP budget politician said: "Here, three different parties with very different approaches are involved. And that is the real challenge."
So far, it is planned that the Bundestag will first discuss the budget for 2025 in its first session week after the parliamentary summer break. The first session day is September 10. However, the budget debate in parliament can also be postponed.
The Federal Parliament will be the governing body responsible for discussing and approving the revised budget draft, as mentioned by Otto Fricke on Deutschlandfunk. The traffic light coalition, comprising the SPD, Greens, and FDP, needs to agree on the financing of around five billion euros within the Federal Parliament, as noted by Christian Dühr.
