Liberals (FDP) reject its re-relaxation, but also tax increases
Optimistic that negotiations in the governing coalition to cover the €17 billion “hole” in the 2024 budget will lead “soon” to a result, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
“The undertaking is indeed a great one, but we have made so much progress that you may be very sure that we shall soon be able to inform you of the resultsaid Mr Solz during a press conference he gave earlier today with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Olaf Solz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) have been looking for a solution to the budget problem for a few weeks. The three parties have said they are trying to bridge differences and do not want the coalition to break up.
A central point of friction is the constitutionally guaranteed “debt brake”, which was suspended as an emergency to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. The Liberals (FDP) reject its re-relaxation, but also the tax increases.
On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has called for another declaration of an “economic emergency” due to the war in Ukraine in order to suspend the “debt brake”, warning otherwise of the risk of an “austerity spiral”. For the Greens, the revision or abolition of the “debt brake” is a constant request.
On the opposition side, the secretary of the Parliamentary Group of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Torsten Frei did not rule out the possibility that his party will proceed with a new appeal before the Federal Constitutional Court, if the government decides again to lift the “debt brake” and for 2024.
“It will obviously be unconstitutional. One cannot declare that the crisis is the norm and systematically bypass the debt brake. Last month the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the channeling to the Climate and Transformation Fund of 60 billion euros which came from emergency borrowing due to the pandemic. The decision caused a “hole” of 17 billion for 2024, while the coverage of the 2023 budget was done by retroactively removing the “debt brake”.
Source :Skai
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