SPD and Greens urge rapid agreement on budget 2025
The still-open gap of four to five billion euros to close, "is a challenging - but with the good will of all coalition partners - achievable task," said Post. In the upcoming parliamentary consultations, the SPD fraction "will place the clear priority on the strengthening of external, internal and social security," he emphasized. Audretsch referred to the responsibility of Lindner for an agreement on the budget plan. The FDP leader "unilaterally rejected an agreement on the budget without feedback in the coalition," said the Green faction vice-chairman to the news agency AFP. All the more urgent it is "that he finally makes serious proposals for the solution" of the still-open budget questions. Demands from the FDP for cuts in the citizen's money Audretsch rejected. The Greens "will not expose families who depend on the money to the arbitrariness of wild and false FDP fantasies," he assured. To the "Rheinische Post" Audretsch said: "The country needs a budget that secures social cohesion, a budget that invests in the railway, in our infrastructure" and that "strengthens the future of our companies." Against too much haste in the budget, FDP general secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai spoke out. "All these things must of course be very carefully examined," he said in Berlin. It is important to act "cautiously and above all very wisely" in drawing up the budget. Particularly, Djir-Sarai spoke out against attempts to circumvent the debt brake in the Basic Law. The government has already failed with this, he referred to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. On the question of when the coalition will agree on the budget, Djir-Sarai did not want to commit himself. He is sure, however, "that a result will be achieved," he said to ARD. "Currently, constructive, intensive and very confidential consultations are taking place" on the budget, said government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner in Berlin. It is about "further improving" the draft that is currently on the table. Büchner did not want to comment on the contents. He referred, however, to statements by Lindner, according to which the submission to the Bundestag "should take place as planned in mid-August." SPD leader Lars Klingbeil had made it clear on Sunday that the government's internal talks must be completed this week. The consultations are particularly concerned with the project of providing payments to Deutsche Bahn and the federal-owned Autobahn GmbH in the form of loans. Criticism of this came from the Left politician Bernd Riexinger. The project to remedy the structural underfunding of the railway with loans is "adventurous," he explained in Berlin. It is necessary to "finance this in the long term and adequately." The chairman of the Bundestag's House of Commons, Helge Braun (CDU), called on the government to clarify open financing questions immediately. It is "imperative to close the budget gap at the beginning of the parliamentary consultations and not only at the end" of the parliamentary consultations in November, said Braun to the news agency AFP. CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Christian Haase criticized the government's current budget plans as a "constitutionally very problematic path." This cannot be allowed to pass the parliament, said the CDU politician to the "Rheinische Post."
The SPD fraction aims to prioritize strengthening external, internal, and social security in the budget discussions, recognizing it as a challenging yet achievable task to close the budget gap of four to five billion euros. Audretsch emphasized the responsibility of Lindner to propose serious solutions for the budget questions, as rejecting agreements without feedback from coalition partners may lead to uncertainties.
