"'Make a wish' is over"
The German government is in the midst of a serious financial crisis. This was triggered by the Federal Constitutional Court, before which the CDU/CSU parliamentary group had filed a lawsuit. The ruling was not a triumph, says its chairman Merz. He does see room for maneuver for the 2024 budget.
It is probably the biggest financial crisis that Germany has ever experienced. Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the climate fund partially unconstitutional. The government now lacks 60 billion euros for the planned ecological conversion. At the same time, however, the court also made it clear that the state may not stockpile debt to finance projects in the coming years. This had previously been a popular practice of the various federal governments. This could also affect the economic stabilization fund, which the Federal Ministry of Finance blocked as a precautionary measure on Tuesday. It contains credit options of up to 200 billion euros and was primarily intended to be used for the electricity and gas price brakes.
If the traffic light coalition has its way, the budget for the coming year is to be passed tomorrow in the responsible Bundestag committee, which should then pass the Bundestag next week. CDU leader Friedrich Merz sees things differently. The 2024 budget is not ready for a decision, he said on ARD's Maischberger. "We will have to correct the 2023 budget with a supplementary budget, and that has to be done this year. Then the year 2024 can definitely be shaped. I believe that is possible. Around 15 billion euros will have to be saved," says Merz, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Bundestag. 15 billion euros - that is roughly the amount of the federal shareholding in Deutsche Telekom. Journalist Wolfram Weimer pointed this out before the interview with Friedrich Merz, without directly proposing its sale. However, experts have been calling for this for years.
"Negligent deception of the voters"
Last week's ruling by the Constitutional Court was not a triumph for the opposition, Merz said on Maischberger. He also said this at a meeting of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The coalition government had converted an unused shadow budget, from which corona aid was to be financed, into payments to companies that it wanted to help with the switch to climate-friendly technologies. The Federal Constitutional Court has prohibited this. "It is a negligent deception of voters in Germany," Merz now accuses the federal government. It has presented an unconstitutional budget. This refers to the supplementary budget for 2021, which the Federal Constitutional Court has declared null and void.
The federal government now has to make ends meet with less money. Merz calls for priorities to be set now. This also applies to the transformation of the economy. "The time for transformation through subsidies financed by debt is over." If Merz has his way, austerity is now the order of the day. The CDU leader is calling for the federal government to reverse the increase in the "so-called citizen's income". At the same time, the government's labor market policy must be changed. The basic child protection scheme, which was intended to create 3,000 to 5,000 new civil servant and white-collar jobs in the public sector, was also wrongly conceived. "Establishing a completely new system now with a bureaucratic burden is simply madness." Merz also wants to repeal the heating law passed in September. "What has to be subsidized for private households is completely disproportionate to the CO2 savings," says Merz. The government could save at least ten billion euros with these measures.
Merz does not recommend tax increases, and he is against softening or even suspending the debt brake. This would only be possible in exceptional emergencies that are beyond the control of the federal government. "But it has deliberately brought about this situation," said the CDU chairman. The federal government had collected almost one trillion euros in taxes. "At the moment, I don't see that we need to approach the debt brake. There are plenty of opportunities to make savings elsewhere. The federal government must now exercise discipline. Not everything is possible anymore and 'make a wish' is over."
Criticism of Scholz
Merz reacted quite angrily to Chancellor Scholz. He has not called him yet. In fact, Merz had only seen the Chancellor once after the Karlsruhe court ruling, at an Africa summit. He had promised African countries four billion euros for climate projects. "There was time for that," criticized Merz. "I expect the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany to lead the government in this situation and tell the people what needs to be done now. He can't just disappear for a week." The CDU/CSU will cooperate with the government in this crisis, but the main work lies with the traffic light coalition.
He does not believe that the crisis will cause it to break up. Nevertheless, he says: "We are preparing for every conceivable scenario." There will be European elections next year anyway, "but we are also in a position to contest a federal election from a standing start. I'm not expecting it, but that could change again tomorrow evening."
Despite the criticism from Merz, the traffic light coalition aims to pass the budget for the coming year in the Bundestag committee tomorrow. Merz, however, believes that the 2024 budget is not ready for a decision and that a supplementary budget will be necessary, requiring savings of around 15 billion euros. Additionally, Merz criticizes the federal government for converting an unused shadow budget into payments for companies, an action that the Federal Constitutional Court has prohibited, calling it a negligent deception of voters. Merz also criticizes the government for relying too heavily on debt to finance economic transformation projects, stating that the time for transformation through subsidies financed by debt is over.
Source: www.ntv.de
