- EU on budget dispute: FDP must withdraw from coalition
The Union faction is urging the FDP to leave the traffic light coalition in the dispute over the federal budget. The reason is statements by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who draws different conclusions from legal opinions on the 2025 budget than Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). Scholz had complained to "Zeit Online" that the actual clear verdict of the legal opinion had been "temporarily misunderstood".
He did not mention Lindner - but for the Union, it is clear: "A federal chancellor who publicly denies his finance minister's competencies and treats him like a schoolboy is a unique occurrence." Union budget policy spokesman Christian Haase told the "Rheinische Post" that the incident highlights the coalition's disunity. At the same time, it shows "that a federal chancellor at the head of our country has not learned from the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on the supplementary budget 2021 and continues to deliberately ignore constitutional law".
The background is three measures that were supposed to reduce the financing gap in the 2023 budget by a total of eight billion euros. Lindner had these scientifically evaluated due to legal and economic concerns. The result: Some concerns were confirmed, but legal expert Johannes Hellermann also showed ways to implement at least two of the three measures.
The Federal Ministry of Finance then stated that there were still concerns about the economic viability. Moreover, necessary legal changes could not be implemented in time for a budget decision. Scholz sees it differently. The federal government will now discuss the next steps confidentially.
The budgetary dispute between the Union and the FDP intensified following Scholz's remarks, as he contradicted Lindner's competencies and legal interpretations, leading to a "unique occurrence" of public denial towards the finance minister. This dispute, stemming from differing conclusions drawn from legal opinions on the 2025 budget, highlighted the coalition's disunity and raised concerns about the federal chancellor's disregard for constitutional law.
