Merz threatens traffic light with renewed constitutional complaint
For days, the traffic light coalition has been struggling to find a solution to the budget crisis. At the party conference, the SPD is campaigning for the debt brake to be suspended. A red rag for Merz. In this case, the CDU/CSU will sue again, he now announces.
CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz has threatened the traffic light coalition with a new constitutional complaint if the debt brake is also suspended for the 2024 budget. "In my view, there is no reason to declare an emergency again now," said the CDU chairman. They would of course take a close look at a possible motion from the coalition. "But if it came to pass as decided at the SPD federal party conference, then we would certainly seriously consider a new lawsuit in Karlsruhe."
At the party conference at the weekend, the SPD argued in favor of suspending the debt brake for 2024 as well. "Constitutional leeway for the budget" must be used in the interests of the population, the delegates decided. Politically, the war in Ukraine had created the conditions for an emergency situation that would allow more borrowing.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner have been struggling for days to find a solution to the budget crisis. Merz said that he could no longer understand why the government was unable to make a decision on the 2024 budget. "This is at best a self-inflicted emergency on the part of the federal government. It has little to do with the external circumstances and a lot to do with the internal state of the federal government."
Merz explained that the CDU/CSU could decide very quickly on a possible new lawsuit. "Our legal representative is on stand-by." In mid-November, the Federal Constitutional Court declared a reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget null and void following a lawsuit by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. This triggered the budget crisis.
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The CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz has previously sued the government over budgetary issues, as he did in 2021, and has threatened to do so again if the debt brake is suspended for the 2024 budget by the traffic light coalition. The SPD's decision to argue for suspending the debt brake at their party conference is seen as a red flag by Merz and the CDU/CSU, potentially leading to another constitutional complaint.
Source: www.ntv.de
