Merz is already predicting the next traffic light dispute
During the traffic light coalition's celebration of their budget agreement at home as a breakthrough, the opposition sounds critical notes. CDU leader Merz believes that the fight in the coalition over the 2025 federal budget will continue even after the coalition leaders' nighttime agreement. Merz predicted: "The dissent will come to the surface again with the cabinet decision. And when we return from the parliamentary summer break in September, then the coalition fight over the 2025 budget will really get going."
CDU leader Merz criticized above all the planned funds for the defense budget. These remain far below the demands of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. "The big loser of the last night is the Bundeswehr," Merz said. The second loser is the FDP. "All the announcements and demands of the FDP have practically dissolved into thin air, except for the progressive depreciation, which we welcome."
Dobrindt sees potential sparks for conflict
The chief of the CSU parliamentarians, Alexander Dobrindt, said that many things were still unclear, several billion euros were still unsecured. It was completely unclear where this money was supposed to come from. Therefore, one could not speak of a budget proposal. "Instead, it is a budget fragment that is showing itself today. And whether this budget fragment will survive or whether it will rather be the spark for the next explosive budget fight in the traffic light coalition, that we will clearly see in the coming days and weeks."
Bavaria's Minister-President Markus Soeder also considers the result inadequate. It "does not suffice for a fundamental change," Soeder said in Berlin in front of journalists. Germany needs a "comprehensive fitness program, not a rheumatism patch and first aid kit."
For the former left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht, the budget agreement of the traffic light coalition is a "worthless breakthrough." "That is not an agreement on a budget, but on continuing to govern," Wagenknecht, who is also the chairwoman of the party named after her, the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), said. "The traffic light coalition leaders did not want to cause a government crisis in Germany during the European Championship at home. But in reality, we have a permanent government crisis."
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck, and Finance Minister Christian Lindner had previously announced a political agreement on the 2025 budget in Berlin after all-night negotiations. It must be passed next in the cabinet and then in the Bundestag.
- Friedrich Merz, from the CDU, suggests that the coalition fights over the 2025 federal budget will resume after the coalition leaders' agreement, predicting that dissent will arise during the cabinet decision and after the parliamentary summer break.
- Merz criticizes the planned funds for the defense budget, stating that they fall short of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius' demands and that the Bundeswehr is the primary loser from the agreement.
- Alexander Dobrindt, the CSU's chief parliamentarian, expresses concern about several billion euros that remain unsecured and the fact that the budget is incomplete, suggesting that it may spark additional conflict within the traffic light coalition.
- Bavaria's Minister-President Markus Soeder considers the result inadequate, stating that it does not provide a sufficient basis for fundamental change and that Germany requires a comprehensive fitness program, not just rheumatism patches and first aid kits.
- Sahra Wagenknecht, a former left-wing politician and chairwoman of the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), dismisses the budget agreement as a "worthless breakthrough," arguing that it merely represents an agreement to continue governing rather than addressing the country's needs.
