The SPD apparently no longer wants the federal budget policy to be determined by the Basic Law or a stubborn FDP finance minister. As the “Bild” reported, among others, the parliamentary group leadership is planning to “massively” weaken the national debt brake prescribed in the Basic Law.
If this succeeds in parliament, the traffic light government would at least be free of a large part of its financial worries: If more billions than available are needed, the government could simply issue new bonds or take out bank loans. Details about what a correspondingly reformed self-restriction could look like are still to be worked out.
The basic goal of being able to beef up the federal coffers with even more borrowed money so that it is sufficient for the ambitious transformation and innovation wishes of the traffic light coalition was already decided in December at the SPD federal party conference. It is now the faction’s turn to decide on the finer details of the advance.
Two days of SPD parliamentary group meeting in Berlin
She is now apparently supposed to get down to business and write a concept during her two-day closed meeting on January 11th and 12th, 2024 in Berlin, reports „Bild“. The current five-page position paper “Key points of a fair budget policy” is intended to serve as the basis for the Chancellor’s party’s “future budget policy deal”. For all generations”. A key message from this is:
The debt brake in its current form is no longer up to date. The current rigid rules pose a risk to the prosperity of current and future generations because they do not provide enough scope for strong investments in the future.”
SPD sees reasons for even more debt
The faction leadership apparently sees the scope for maneuver available so far as severely limited by several crises: the war in Ukraine is responsible for “increased energy prices” and the costs for Ukrainians seeking protection. The “barbaric attack by Hamas on Israel” is also putting a strain on the budget.
“In addition, there is the need for digital and industrial transformation, the increased commitment to climate protection, the urgent need to strengthen and modernize our education system, the expansion of a future-oriented infrastructure and the strengthening of the competitiveness of companies for the benefit of employees in a simultaneously changing world.” , it says in the position paper (PDF file).
Intergenerational justice?
The position paper attempts to counter the argument often put forward by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), among others, that an ever-increasing mountain of debt will also be at the expense of future generations, with reference to the “many findings and recommendations from German and international economists”: “Foregoing loan-financed investments in the future can be devastating for an economy in the long term,” warn the Social Democrats.
Debt is neither good nor bad “per se”. It is important that politicians use the money in an “economically sensible way”. The SPD parliamentary group believes that not only current voters, but sooner or later their descendants will also benefit from investments. Therefore, corresponding plans “could very well be sensibly financed to a significant extent through loans”. In any case, the “welfare state” should not suffer if “investment needs” require more money than expected.
At the closed meeting, the “executive parliamentary group executive committee” should set up a “steering group” which should then develop the “key points” for an initiative in the Bundestag. According to the position paper, the economic and legal framework conditions, the status quo of the European Stability and Growth Pact, the legal circumstances abroad and the opinions of experts “from science, trade unions and business, among others” must be taken into account.
New traffic light trouble programmed?
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had so far steadfastly resisted all attempts at persuasion to ease the debt brake. Because its existence, like the commitment not to allow tax increases, was one of the liberal party leader’s big election promises. Most recently, Lindner did not recognize the “flood disaster” as a sufficient reason for a change of course.
“The question is whether the SPD’s advance will develop into a real dispute – or whether it will remain a party-political skirmish that will be captured by the Chancellor,” concludes „t-online“ the conflict-prone situation. Such a new “skirmish” between the parties would be grist to the mill of government critics, thousands of whom had already joined farmers’ nationwide protest actions since Monday, January 8, 2024. According to “t-online”, there were no reactions from Lindner or his Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) until midday on January 10, 2024 – not even on the social platform “X”.
Billion holes since the Karlsruhe decision
The dispute over a constitutionally compliant budget had affected almost all domestic political reporting since November 15, 2023. Because on that day, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe made a decision that declared the “Second Supplementary Budget Act” 2021 (NHG) void and unconstitutional. This tore billions in holes in the federal government’s income and expenditure accounts.
The traffic light government then had to think again about its budget planning for 2023 and 2024. But as soon as it was clear that savings should be made, especially from 2024, voices became loud, especially from the ranks of the SPD and the Greens, who wanted to avert the embarrassing situation by reforming the debt brake.
The GG amendment requires clear majorities in the Bundestag and Bundesrat
To the Debt brake article 109 Changing or abolishing the Basic Law would be appropriate Article 79 GG to obtain a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. The votes of the traffic light factions alone would not be enough. Because the representatives of the three traffic light parties only have 417 of the 736 seats, at least 73 votes would be missing.
The AfD parliamentary group is not expected to support a change to the Basic Law. CSU boss Markus Söder and CDU chairman Friedrich Merz have also insisted on compliance with the debt brake from 2024. The currently 44 non-attached MPs could not change anything either.
2024-01-11 07:43:28
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