Budget debate in the Bundestag
Lindner plans with new debts from war
03/22/2022, 12:48 p.m
For the current year, Christian Lindner expects new debt of almost 100 billion euros. However, it shouldn’t stay that way – because of the Ukraine war, the finance minister wants to present a supplementary budget “as soon as possible”. He announced this at the start of the budget debate in the Bundestag.
At the beginning of the budget week in the Bundestag, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner explained his budget planning, which is fraught with imponderables. In view of the Ukraine war and its consequences, economic development in Germany is “characterized by great uncertainty,” he said. All the more important is “a suitable response from government fiscal policy”. The aim of the federal government is to strengthen growth and at the same time “counteract the risks of inflation”.
So far, Lindner is planning new debt of 99.7 billion euros for 2022. However, this is likely to increase significantly: The minister confirmed his plan in the Bundestag to present a supplementary budget “as soon as possible” in which further state reactions to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine are to be reflected. “Only measures that are directly related to the consequences of the Ukraine war will be added,” emphasized Lindner, with a view to possible further budget requests from the various ministries.
Lindner said that the budget also launches a number of priorities for the traffic light coalition. The alliance has set itself the goal of making the 2020s a “decade of future investments”. “This draft budget can also be measured against that.” It is “the first step in making our country more modern, more sustainable, more digital and more free”.
War as a reason for suspending the debt brake
The FDP chairman also confirmed his intention to comply with the debt brake again from 2023. He is counting on “that there will no longer be an emergency in the coming year”, which will allow an exception to the debt rule in the Basic Law. Compliance with the debt brake is then a “command of our constitution,” emphasized Lindner.
State finances would “not be ruined in the crisis,” he said. Rather, they would be damaged if the return to normal budgetary policy after a crisis did not succeed. “This return to normality is the budgetary goal of this federal government.”
The federal government wants to justify the renewed suspension of the debt brake this year with the Ukraine war. The corresponding application to the Bundestag will be adjusted as soon as the government can present the planned supplementary budget, Lindner announced. The emergency situation, which is necessary according to the Basic Law to suspend the debt brake, will then be justified not only by the corona pandemic but also by measures to deal with the war.
Lindner also wants a moratorium on the burden on the German economy because of the Ukraine war. Everything must be avoided “that could further burden people and companies in this situation,” said the FDP politician. Bureaucratic burdens should take second place to securing economic development. Lindner described the danger of a lack of economic growth coupled with high inflation and promised that the federal government would do everything possible to prevent such a scenario. These included an increase in productivity, an acceleration of planning and approval procedures, relief, but also a modern, open immigration policy.
Bundeswehr should be strengthened
Outside of the federal budget, the Bundeswehr special fund is to be set up in the current year. It is said to have a volume of 100 billion euros, financed by loans. The point here is to “strengthen the Bundeswehr, which has been neglected for many years,” said Lindner.
He defended the chosen construction of a special fund enshrined in the Basic Law. The alternatives – namely tax increases or a “permanent softening of the debt brake” – would have been “disadvantageous”.
The Bundestag discusses the budget draft for the rest of the week. All individual plans of the ministries are taken into account. On Wednesday morning, the general debate, the traditional exchange of blows between the government and the opposition, will take place during the discussion of the budget plan for the Federal Chancellery.