Monday, October 25, 2021
Coalition talk with Anne Will
“See what’s going on in the case of tax cuts”
By Marko Schlichting
The hot phase of the coalition talks between the SPD, Greens and FDP is imminent. The goal is a government that gets the climate and industrial transition under control. That will be expensive. Anne Will discussed this with her guests on Sunday evening.
The hot phase of the traffic light talks will start in Berlin in two days. The aim is to form a climate government. It is intended to promote the restructuring of the industry. That will cost a lot of money, the likely coalitionists are well aware. But they don’t have a lot of money. The new government must comply with the debt brake from 2023, and it does not want to increase taxes. With these demands, the FDP has prevailed. At the same time, renewable energies are to be further promoted, the phase-out of coal-fired power generation and the combustion engine are to be promoted. How that could work was the topic on Sunday evening with Anne Will on ARD.
Invited among others: the likely future Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz from the SPD. Also a guest: Greens co-boss Robert Habeck. Even before the elections, he had doubted the SPD candidate for an ecological restructuring of the German economy. Now he says: “If Olaf Scholz is elected, he will be a climate chancellor – because we are there.”
“We want to form a government that makes Germany’s new beginnings possible,” said Scholz, naming the main goal of the new federal government right from the start. Although the SPD and the Greens failed with some demands such as a speed limit on the autobahn, the exploratory paper now available contains much that the Social Democrats had demanded. As examples, Scholz cited basic child benefits, the promotion of housing construction, the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros or the stabilization of the pension level. In addition, the retirement age should not rise. But the most important thing for Scholz: “The great breakthrough to stop climate change.” And he promises: “In the first year the rules should be changed so that it works.” Among other things, the planning processes for new construction projects such as wind turbines are to be accelerated.
“Talk about tax cuts thoroughly”
Robert Habeck is also satisfied: “In essence, it can be said that after a few weeks from a confusing situation a political dynamic emerged and three parties are determined to give Germany a new government. These are parties that do not automatically go well together.”
Energy economist Claudia Kemfert, on the other hand, is disappointed. “There would have been more in there,” she believes. The co-signatory of the “Scientists for Future” campaign knows the exploratory paper and is certain: “We will not achieve the Paris climate targets this way. We will have to improve on that.” She believes that there is a gap in the coalition’s ambition and implementation when it comes to fighting the climate crisis.
There are ambitions. You can hear that from the words of Robert Habeck, who repeatedly explains that an exploratory paper is now available. This is new, nothing like it used to be. Only now are negotiations really going on.
Even before the elections, the SPD had ambitions when it comes to tax cuts for those on low incomes. That’s not going to happen, say Scholz and Habeck. There are no tax increases for the rich, so there can be no big gifts for poorer people, is the tenor. But the minimum wage should rise from 9.60 to 12 euros. In addition, there should be significant changes in the Hartz IV calculation. “We’ll talk more thoroughly about tax cuts and see what’s possible over the next four years,” says Scholz.
“We can’t even do it in a month”
For Habeck there is one more point: “If we want more money, we have to wait until the economy builds up again.” The new government wants to create framework conditions for this.
The two politicians believe that all planning must be subject to the energy transition. An example: if there are more e-cars in Germany, more charging stations will be needed. Olaf Scholz knows that too. He says: “The charging infrastructure is ridiculous.” The auto industry is demanding up to 2,000 new charging stations per week. “We can’t even do it in a month.”
What Scholz wants to achieve above all: Germany must become a rich, but climate-neutral industrial nation. “If we can do that, we have the best chance of being at the top of the world.” Of course, Germany cannot save the global climate on its own, Scholz knows that too. But: “We are the country that, with its economic strength, develops the technologies that enable this to be achieved worldwide.”
If you take a closer look at the two political guests at Anne Will’s, you will have to admit one thing: There is a very small change. Scholz switched to chancellor mode, it says in a tweet. And Habeck on ministerial mode, one could add. Even if the Green politician is reluctant to say which ministerial post he sees himself now. It is now about the factual issues, both politicians emphasize again and again. They know that they have to act very quickly, especially in view of rising energy prices. That is why they reaffirm at the end of the program: The new government should be at the beginning of the second week of December. So in forty-two days.