Budget dispute in the traffic light
Lindner: A new building next to the Chancellery is unnecessary
By Marko Schlichting
03/16/2023 02:06 am
In the budget dispute of the traffic light coalition, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner also called on the federal government to save. In the ARD talk show “Maischberger” on Wednesday evening, he questions the planned new building next to the Chancellery.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP has called on the federal government to be more economical. Lindner said on Wednesday evening in the ARD program “Maischberger”: “I believe that in times of home office and location-flexible work, a new building costing at least 800 million euros next to the Chancellery is unnecessary.” In his ministry there is currently 75 percent location-flexible work. As a result, office space can be used differently. “Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be dissatisfied that I’ve suggested this here. But that’s my job after all,” Lindner continued.
The minister is not worried about the current turbulence at Credit Suisse, whose share price fell by 30 percent on Wednesday. “The German credit system is stable,” says Lindner. The reason for the turbulence of the Swiss company were statements by the largest shareholder, the Saudi National Bank. A spokesman had told the press that the bank would not inject any more money into Credit Suisse.
“We lack income”
Finance Minister Lindner originally wanted to present the key figures for the 2024 budget to the Federal Cabinet for approval on Wednesday. But because the members of the government have not yet been able to agree on the amount of their respective budgets with the minister, it will now take some time. But Lindner still has time. The budget does not have to be approved by the Bundestag until autumn.
“There is still no understanding of the financial realities,” Lindner criticized his ministerial colleagues at “Maischberger”. “The situation is such that we don’t have the income for the state’s existing expenditure,” says the minister, describing the problem.
According to Lindner, federal debt repayments increased tenfold between 2021 and 2023 from four to forty billion euros. That’s why Germany has to get rid of debt so that taxes don’t have to be increased at some point to “servicing the debt”. That is why it is also right to insist on compliance with the debt brake. “It’s not a fetish, but an imperative of economic wisdom that the state should finally be able to get by with the money that the citizens are making available to it.”
No special fund for basic child security
The Minister of Finance has signaled little concession with regard to basic child security, which Family Minister Lisa Paus from the Greens wants to introduce. The minister has not yet presented a concept for this, said Lindner. In addition, the government has already done the essential things by increasing child benefits and child allowances for poor people. However, he could imagine introducing an automated digital process to reach families who do not use the services for children, says Lindner. That will cost about two billion euros.
The minister cannot imagine a special fund to finance basic child security. This is another debt. “That was possible with the Bundeswehr, because it’s a one-off investment. Here, however, social services are to be financed with debt in the long term. I’m a spoilsport there: It’s not possible to distribute more money in the long term than the state has,” he said Lindner.
But there is another reason that speaks against a special fund to finance basic child security. A special fund is nothing more than a shadow budget that has to be managed in addition to the actual federal budget. The Federal Court of Auditors complains: the more of these shadow budgets there are, the more opaque the federal budget becomes. And currently the number of special funds is just under thirty.