“Cabinet determines budget”: Greens rebel against Lindner’s austerity diktat

“Cabinet determines budget”
Greens are rebelling against Lindner’s austerity diktat

Finance Minister Lindner has slashed expensive pet projects for the traffic light ministers and ruled out a policy on credit. The Greens are opposed to this. Especially since the defense resort should not comply with any spending limits.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s savings targets for the federal ministries in the 2024 federal budget are met with resistance from the Greens. “In the end, a federal budget needs the approval of the entire cabinet,” said the Greens’ chief housekeeper Sven-Christian Kindler of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. “What is now necessary is a joint content-related coordination process for the federal budget, which can be approved by all three coalition partners.”

FDP boss Lindner had given the individual federal departments spending limits and asked them to submit proposals for savings; he had only exempted the Ministry of Defense from this. According to Kindler, the Greens do not want to accept this procedure. “Excluding the defense department in general makes no sense,” he said. “There are demonstrably significant inefficiencies in procurement for the Bundeswehr that have not yet been eliminated.” Kindler criticized: “There always seeps away too much money.”

“Subsidy cut brings billions”

In addition, the majority of the 100 billion euros in the Bundeswehr special fund has not yet been firmly planned. “We should not make cuts at the expense of programs for the participation of children and young people, for rural development, for culture or for initiatives against right-wing extremism,” demanded the budget spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag. Anyone who cuts corners here “weakens our democracy and the cohesion in our society in these times of crisis,” he warned. Instead, Kindler called for cuts in environmentally harmful subsidies and named the tax privilege for company cars. When reducing subsidies that are harmful to the environment and climate, “large billions can be fetched”.

The budget for next year has been causing unrest in the coalition for months. Several ministries reported some additional needs. However, since Lindner rules out both a renewed exemption from the debt brake and tax increases, there is practically no leeway for this. The budget is to be passed in the cabinet before the summer break, but Lindner has not yet given an exact date for this.

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