Traffic light leadership interrupts budget talks again
The budget crisis has still not been resolved and the leaders of the traffic light coalition have once again interrupted their talks. This has business representatives in an uproar and the impasse is causing great concern.
The leaders of the traffic light coalition once again interrupted their talks on the 2024 budget late on Monday evening. Government circles had reported that progress had been made. No details were disclosed. The negotiations are to continue on Tuesday morning.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck are trying to find a solution to the budget gap created by the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. The issue is a 17 billion euro hole in the 2024 budget and the need to enable investments in climate protection and the modernization of the economy in the coming years. The SPD had called for the debt brake to be suspended again at the weekend, while the FDP has so far rejected this and is focusing primarily on savings.
Scholz had expressed confidence on Monday that he would soon be able to present a result. SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil is now also expecting a quick agreement. "I am confident that we really will fill this serious gap in the budget somehow in the next few days," he said in the evening on the program "RTL Direkt". When asked whether this also included savings in the social sector, Klingbeil conceded: "We know that we as the SPD have to make our contribution. In other words, things that are important to us. (...) Of course, savings have to be made for everyone."
"Companies at the end of their patience"
Leading German business associations are calling for the dispute to be resolved quickly. Employers' president Rainer Dulger said that savings of 17 billion euros in a federal budget of around 470 billion euros should be solvable. "We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Nor do we have a budget crisis, but a decision-making crisis with a lack of willingness to compromise," he said. "This fuels uncertainty and only increases dissatisfaction with democracy."
Dulger also spoke out against the suspension of the debt brake. It is not the debt brake that is the problem, but high expenditure and reform fatigue. It was a matter of prioritizing expenditure wisely. "However, the federal budget presented for the coming year provides for more than five times as much expenditure on social welfare, personnel and interest as on investments. That is too much for consumption and too little for the future. This imbalance in the budget must be ended."
Industry President Siegfried Russwurm also called on the coalition to find a quick and sustainable solution for the 2024 budget. There is already great uncertainty in the industry. "There is less investment in Germany. Many companies are at the end of their tether."
The President of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), Peter Adrian, expressed similar sentiments. According to him, the federal government is in a really difficult situation. "From a business perspective, I have to say: due to the economic situation with the high energy prices and unclear framework conditions, we have already felt a great deal of uncertainty among companies across almost all sectors." However, this has now increased even further because the fiscal framework is uncertain. "Nobody currently knows where the train will go in the future. This can be seen in both the innovation climate and the investment climate in Germany."
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
- Numerous oil, gas and coal lobbyists at climate conference
Christian Lindner, the Finance Minister, is working with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck to find a solution to the budget gap caused by the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling. The budget impasse and potential need for savings in the social sector have led to concerns among business leaders such as Rainer Dulger and Siegfried Russwurm. Dulger, the President of the German Employers' Association, has criticized the high expenditure in the budget and the lack of priority given to investments, stating that the current imbalance must be addressed.
Source: www.ntv.de
