Survival secured for the time being, opportunity for long lost
With their agreement on a new budget, the traffic lights are saving themselves for the new year. However, the package is not impressive. The citizens are being asked to pay instead of making serious savings. Scholz, Lindner and Habeck will have to work harder to build up new trust.
They have become modest in their assessment of the current federal government. Since its political survival was seriously in doubt, it is probably an achievement in itself that Mr. Scholz, Mr. Habeck and Mr. Lindner have reached an agreement. After all. There are many small and some big compromises that have been made, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing in itself. Failure in this exercise would have driven this government into the abyss and the country into a paralyzed period until new elections.
It was clear from the outset that all three parties would have to concede something that they did not actually want to concede. This is how it turned out: The SPD at least conceded a few cuts to the welfare state, which accounts for 170 billion euros in the Social Affairs Minister's budget alone. The Greens are doing without some programs and subsidies for climate protection - although it was not certain how well they would really be spent anyway. And the FDP is increasing taxes and levies - on electricity, gas, oil, petrol and diesel as well as domestic air travel. This hits their voters the least hard.
But it is also true that most of the budget shortfall is being plugged using very simple and unimaginative methods: The climate protection fund lacks 60 billion euros in loans by 2027? Then the first thing we do is cut 45 billion from these very climate protection plans by 2027 and - bang - the hole for the next four years is already a quarter closed. Secondly, citizens will be asked to pay across the board, but was that really necessary? The prices of electricity, gas, petrol and diesel will rise at the beginning of the year, as will those of flights and plastic products. This may be good for climate protection, but not for your wallet. Many citizens will see this as a further imposition. They will also be asked to pay because the government has gambled away with debt.
Missed opportunity
And above all: politically, the new budget is a missed opportunity. Because this new budget consultation has clearly not become a major inventory of all government spending. "What we can and cannot afford" was the aim, according to the Chancellor. But he failed to do that, he didn't have the strength. It is a missed opportunity. Instead, they continue to muddle through the huge social budget and only want to increase "accuracy" in certain areas. Unfortunately, this is not a complete reform.
At the same time, various hopes have been booked as if they were hard cash: getting Ukrainian refugees out of the state-financed citizens' allowance and into (tax-paying) work more quickly is one such hope. And there is also a big loophole: if more money is needed for Ukraine, an exception to the debt ceiling will be made after all.
The question remains as to whether this agreement will give the coalition breathing space. Internally between the three parties and externally as a kind of reconciliation with the citizens? After all, the three-party circle of Scholz. Habeck and Lindner still seems to be working on a personal level. If anything had leaked out of this circle during the negotiations, it would have been another nail in the coffin of this government.
But it will take more than this agreement to reconcile with the citizens who have lost so much trust. It will save the coalition into the New Year, into the next stage. Further impositions must not follow: not in terms of making climate protection more expensive, not in the ongoing dispute between the coalition partners.
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The traffic light coalition, led by Olaf Scholz, has managed to secure their political survival with the agreement on a new budget, despite its unimpressive nature. However, this budgetary policy will require citizens to pay more, rather than making significant savings.
Despite the agreement, the traffic light coalition has missed an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of the government's spending, focusing instead on small adjustments and increasing accuracy in certain areas.
Source: www.ntv.de
