Traffic light stands, Merz foams at the mouth

Traffic lights are on, Merz is fuming

Only hours after the agreement between the two parties, the Bundestag is discussing a draft budget, the details of which are only slowly leaking out. The Chancellor hardly says anything about it. CDU leader Merz exchanges blows with SPD leader Esken.

It couldn't have been much tighter. On Wednesday morning, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner reached the final agreement during their unscheduled budget consultations - just early enough to announce it before the start of the last Bundestag session of the year.

Fittingly, a government statement by the Chancellor was scheduled for this Wednesday anyway. The occasion: the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. It is not unusual to use such appearances before the German Bundestag for other topics. So it is all the more surprising that Scholz is not doing this: he is not focusing on the budget for the coming year in his speech.

He talks about the war in Ukraine, is "deeply impressed" by Kiev's army, but also describes the situation as threatening. Russian weapons production is running at full speed. "Putin is still determined to bring Ukraine to its knees militarily. And he is counting on international support waning. The danger that this calculation could work out cannot be denied - unfortunately."

Not a word about Taurus

Scholz cites the dispute in the USA and the Hungarian blockade of the EU budget as reasons for this. He does not mention his own refusal to supply Taurus to Ukraine. The head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Friedrich Merz, does, as do speakers from the FDP and the Greens, who explicitly point out that it is not up to their parties.

Merz says that under the current circumstances, Ukraine has "absolutely no chance" of winning the war. This also has something to do with the German government's hesitancy. Scholz is deceiving the public and "fails to provide any proof" as to why he does not want to supply Ukraine with Taurus medium-range missiles, Merz said, indirectly referring to criticism from CDU defense politician Roderich Kiesewetter.

The debt brake is to be relaxed for the Ahr valley

In his speech, Scholz turns from the war in Ukraine to German budgetary policy. During his joint appearance with Habeck and Lindner, the Chancellor had already made it clear that the "traffic light" coalition only wants to relax the debt brake for the 2.7 billion euros planned for 2024 for the reconstruction of the Ahr Valley, which was hit by the flood disaster. However, it reserves the right to do the same for support for Ukraine should the war make this necessary. This, so the argument goes, would be one of the "extraordinary emergencies beyond the control of the state" described in Article 115 of the Basic Law - and which would allow the debt brake to be suspended.

During his appearance in the Chancellery, Scholz put it this way: "If the situation worsens as a result of Russia's war against Ukraine, for example because the situation on the front deteriorates, because other supporters reduce their aid to Ukraine or because the threat to Germany and Europe increases further, we will have to react to this. In order to be prepared, we have already agreed with each other that in such a situation - which nobody knows today whether it will happen or not - we will propose an override resolution to the Bundestag, just as Article 115 of the Basic Law allows in emergency situations."

Scholz repeats these sentences almost word for word in the Bundestag. The CDU/CSU does not buy that this is only a vague prospect. It is the chancellor's "usual trickery", says Merz: the "traffic light" will now spend the money from the climate and transformation fund as well as for "all the transfer payments", "and then you will tell us in the middle of the year: well, it was all unforeseen what we are facing in Ukraine, and now we have to review the budget decisions again".

Infight with Esken

Provoked by interjections from SPD leader Saskia Esken, Merz gets into an infight with her. At the SPD party conference at the weekend, Esken had said that the CDU and CSU were "chanting in unison with the AfD against the traffic light". Merz quoted the Social Democrat with this statement, visibly outraged: "You are falling below every permissible level of personal disparagement here!" When the SPD parliamentary group responded to Esken's quote with applause, Merz literally fumed. This was a "low point in the political culture of this House".

Merz then accuses the Chancellor of having "failed miserably" with his plan to reform asylum legislation. He recounts a meeting with Scholz in the Chancellery on October 13. There, Scholz "proudly" handed him the draft for the law to improve returns. "You read it yourself, you said, and it was one of the most well-crafted pieces of work from your coalition." According to reports, this law will not come into force until next year at the earliest. "How much longer are you actually going to let large parts of your coalition, especially the Greens, dance around on your nose?" the opposition leader rails, calling on Scholz to introduce the bill into the Bundestag unchanged and to combine it with a vote of confidence.

Alexander Dobrindt, head of the CSU regional group, accuses the traffic light party of "probably wanting to drag the debt brake". He quotes what Habeck had written in the Green parliamentary group meeting early this morning, according to Der Spiegel: "The negotiations are finished, the government is still standing. According to Dobrindt, the coalition's agreement was solely about keeping "the traffic light in power". With regard to the planned reduction of climate-damaging subsidies, he accuses the Liberals of breaking their word: "Until now, the FDP has referred to this as tax increases."

FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer disagrees: "There is no tax increase for the working middle class." The suspension of the debt brake for the Ahr valley should also only take place "if it is legally possible to find a workable compromise". That sounded a little different to Scholz. However, the Chancellor had also emphasized that "in-depth examinations" were still underway and that the coalition would "approach the largest opposition party" and seek their support.

According to the coalition's plans, the Bundestag is set to approve the budget in the first week of the 2024 session. To be continued.

Read also:

During the budget discussions in the German federal parliament, Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the traffic light coalition emphasized that they only intend to relax the debt brake for the Ahr Valley reconstruction, but they reserve the right to do so for Ukraine aid if necessary.
Alexander Dobrindt, head of the CSU parliamentary group, criticized the traffic light coalition, accusing them of wanting to drag out the debt brake and breaking their word on climate-damaging subsidies, a claim disputed by FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer.
In a heated exchange during the parliamentary session, CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz accused SPD leader Saskia Esken of disparaging his party and claimed that the Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had "failed miserably" in his plan to reform asylum legislation, a claim that Scholz's government has yet to address publicly.

Source: www.ntv.de