Political summer break? No way! The traffic light coalition’s budget plan is once again in jeopardy. The CSU sees Olaf Scholz as responsible, but he is on vacation.
Munich/Berlin – It was a day that was eagerly awaited. In mid-July, after a long and sometimes tough struggle, the leaders of the traffic light coalition presented their draft for a possible federal budget for 2025 to the public. After that, calm was supposed to return – especially after the “disgrace of Karlsruhe”. And the top politicians around Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) could go on holiday with a clear conscience. But now it’s “command back!”; at least if the CSU has its way.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner moves forward: Legal concerns about draft budget
But why? On Sunday (4 August), Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) made it public in a summer interview with ZDF that the independent reports he had commissioned had identified constitutional risks in relation to the draft budget presented by the cabinet in mid-July. He would not support this again under his wing, so renegotiations would have to be held. Specifically, the problem is that the remaining 4.9 billion euros from the KfW development bank for the gas price caps could probably not be used elsewhere in the budget.
Bavaria’s Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU) is annoyed by this. He told the newspapers of the Bavarian Media Group: “First the traffic light coalition took forever to reach an apparent budget agreement and now the compromise that was presented in a big and public way is obviously falling apart after just a few weeks. There is no sign of the ability to govern. It is a complete tragedy.”
“Unbearable and disrespectful”: CSU calls on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to cancel his vacation
SPD politicians are also annoyed. But above all about Lindner’s rush to the front. In the morning magazine of ARD and ZDF SPD leader Saskia Esken accused the FDP leader of not having communicated the results of the reports internally beforehand. “He talks about transparency, but he has not created transparency within the government, but with the public. That is indecent and it serves to promote one’s own profile,” Esken raged. Her party colleague Kevin Kühnert echoed the same sentiment. He accused the Federal Finance Minister of “self-promotion” because he published the results while Chancellor Scholz was on vacation.
The CSU believes he should end it immediately and speak out again. “Where is Scholz? The traffic light coalition is once again falling apart in public because it has failed again on the budget. And the Chancellor is on vacation,” said General Secretary Martin Huber to the German Press Agency. This is unbearable and disrespectful to the citizens. “That is why it is clear: Scholz must cut his vacation short.”
According to Esken, Scholz, Lindner and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) want to clarify the budget issue again by August 14 and then submit the draft budget to parliament. After the end of the political summer break in September, the Bundestag will then approve the budget in November. It is doubtful whether this will go smoothly. The Greens reject new negotiations on the traffic light budget. (dpa/pls)
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