The FDP insists on the debt brake. The SPD counters this, supposedly for justice in the budget. What does the required “future deal” look like?
Berlin – The FDP is sticking to the debt brake and is instead calling for a “priority setting”, contrary to criticism from the SPD and the Greens. Meanwhile, the SPD faction in the Bundestag is increasing the pressure: They want a reform of the debt brake to provide more leeway. The Bundestag should develop a “future budget policy deal”.
“The currently rigid rules are a risk to the prosperity of current and future generations because they do not provide enough scope for strong investments in the future,” the parliamentary group justified in the internal template for its closed meeting South German newspaper. The traffic light government's budget planning recently suffered a blow due to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. There, 60 billion euros of Corona emergency loans were reallocated into one climate– and transformation fund for the following financial year. Despite Budget freeze The traffic lights and especially FPD leader Christian Lindner stuck to the debt brake.
Debate about agricultural diesel also affects the traffic light debt brake
It was further argued: “Debt is not good per se, but above all it is not bad per se. They must be used in such a way that they make economic sense.” The SPD thus advocated for more scope for debt, as was already decided at the SPD party conference in December 2023. Not making credit-financed investments at all could be disastrous in the long term, according to the internal submission.
Above all, the Karlsruhe ruling brought the debate about the debt brake back into the public eye: In order to be able to take out loans for climate policy next year, an emergency would have to be declared, including a new exemption from the debt brake.
The current protests in the agricultural sector are further intensifying the debate, because the budget gap is also to be financed through cuts in agricultural spending. While Olaf Scholz continued to support the gradual abolition of subsidies for agricultural diesel, other SPD politicians had a different opinion. “The farmers are pissed off, and rightly so,” said the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig South German newspaper with.
Intergenerat
ional equity only without a debt brake? – Reform unlikely
“Reducing intergenerational justice to not leaving debts to future generations clearly falls short,” explained the closed conference concept. Intergenerational justice is anchored in the German Basic Law, Article 20a: “The state, also responsible for future generations, protects the natural foundations of life and animals within the framework of the constitutional order through legislation and in accordance with the law and law through executive power and jurisprudence .”
However, the debt brake is also anchored in the Basic Law and would therefore need a two-thirds majority to change it. However, the Union and the FDP are currently blocking possible attempts at reform. Instead of a fundamental reform, it will probably remain with a potential renewed declaration of an emergency should Ukraine need more help.
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