"The traffic lights also got the 'double whammy' wrong"
Not only the climate fund, but also the economic stabilization fund, better known as the "double whammy", is in danger, according to CDU financial expert Mathias Middelberg. Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the coalition with the traffic light system is facing a crucial test.
According to CDU parliamentary group deputy leader Mathias Middelberg, the Constitutional Court's ruling on the budget will be a stress test for the governing coalition. "The coalition government is now really facing an acid test because there is clearly no agreement behind the scenes on how to deal with this," said Middelberg on ntv's "Frühstart".
There are not only problems with the Climate and Transformation Fund, the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) is also in danger. This fund, better known as the so-called double whammy, is worth 200 billion euros. "Here, too, the fact is that it has been booked incorrectly, namely all of it for 2022," says Middelberg. "And then Christian Lindner says for the following years, i.e. now and 2024, I am complying with the debt brake. That's not the case, and the Federal Constitutional Court found that yesterday. It said that this booking is rubbish. You have to do an honest accounting, that's what the traffic lights have to do now."
On Wednesday, the Federal Constitutional Court upheld a complaint by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and declared the reallocation of funds from the coronavirus crisis for the promotion of climate protection and modernization projects to be unconstitutional. This means that the coalition is missing out on planned loans amounting to 60 billion euros. The WSF used for the gas and electricity price brakes has a volume of 200 billion euros, is also loan-financed, but is far from being fully utilized.
Union wants to stop budget deliberations
According to the CDU financial expert, the Bundestag's budget deliberations cannot be continued and completed as planned. "I also think it would be an absolute disaster to believe that we could finalize the budget today in the cleaning session, at least at committee level. You can't do that."
"The traffic light could and should make shifts in the budget, so could, I say, say goodbye to nice-to-have projects, could also think about generating additional revenue, for example," Middelberg continued. Germany is the only industrialized country in the world to have to cope with a shrinking economy. "We are practically at a standstill as an economy. The Ampel should now focus everything on growth, then we would also have more revenue again."
According to Middelberg's recommendation, the FDP should use the verdict to decide whether to remain in the governing coalition. After all, the FDP is the only party in this coalition "that has realized that the time has come for us to really get this country back on course for growth," said the CDU budget politician. "And that's why the FDP should be encouraged to take this ruling as a wake-up call." According to Middelberg, he expects disputes within the coalition of the two parties on how to compensate for the loss of the billions. "We are always approachable and ready to find constructive solutions. However, this now requires the process to be halted at this stage."
Source: www.ntv.de
