Germany’s economy is in crisis. Not only the government and opposition, but also the coalition members are arguing “like tinkers” about how to get out of it. In the case of “Hard but fair” there are also surprising similarities.
The parliamentary summer recess is not over yet, and the traffic light coalition already has its next dispute. This time it is about the Growth Opportunities Act, on which the Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP and the Green Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck had agreed. This was to be initiated by the federal cabinet last week. But then Family Minister Lisa Paus from the Greens vetoed it. The law is now to be passed at the closed meeting of the traffic light coalition at the end of August. The deputy FDP chairman Johannes Vogel and the leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katharina Dröge, assume this. A corresponding question from “Hart aber fair” moderator Louis Klamroth at the end of the ARD talk show on Monday evening both answered with a clear “yes”.
The question remains: Was the crash in the coalition really necessary? The fact is: the German economy is going downhill. After all, the International Monetary Fund assumes that the German economy will have shrunk by 0.3 percent by the end of the year. The IFO business climate index has also fallen recently – for the third time in a row.
Ministers “fight like tinkers”
“The situation is alarming,” says Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn on “Hard but fair”. And he gives examples: “The only thing that’s going up is the unemployment rate.” At the same time, according to Spahn, the number of insolvencies in industrial companies is going up. “There is no sign of growth,” said Spahn, who at the same time criticized the dispute in the traffic light coalition. “Especially the economics and finance ministers argue like tinkers.” Spahn calls for a “pact for growth”. That means “investments are being made in terms of site conditions, taxes, energy costs and the reduction in bureaucracy.” However, as part of the debt brake.
Christian Kullmann is also not satisfied with the current economic situation. He is President of the Association of the Chemical Industry and CEO of Evonik in Essen, Germany’s third largest chemical company. Particularly important for him: A reduction in the industrial electricity price: “In the USA I pay two cents per kilowatt hour, in Germany twenty.” Two years ago, the SPD chancellor candidate at the time, Olaf Scholz, promised during the election campaign that industrial electricity prices would be reduced to four cents per kilowatt hour. Kullmann criticizes that he no longer wants to remember that.
Green parliamentary group leader Dröge does not see the situation quite so pessimistically. After all, the Federal Government’s resolute action has ensured that Germany came through the energy crisis much better than expected last year. Problems such as the shortage of skilled workers or the reduction in bureaucracy would now be addressed. Nevertheless, she also says: “The investment activity of the German economy is too low.” The Greens therefore want industry to pay less for electricity.
Johannes Vogel from the FDP does not go far enough. He would rather the electricity price go down for everyone: for large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and for the general public. He has no understanding for the Green Family Minister’s blockade on the Growth Opportunities Act. The Greens are actually for it. “We have to strengthen the economy and at the same time fight child poverty,” says the Green Party leader. But Vogel is a little annoyed: “Competition among the Greens must not stand in the way of the country’s competitiveness, and we urgently need to solve the challenges,” he says. He too is in favor of combating child poverty, “but we need economic growth for that.”
“Shooting Godzilla with the Water Gun”
Christian Kullmann would also like to be in favor of the Growth Opportunities Act, but he criticizes: “We have a law from the FDP that has a relief limit of six billion euros. But that’s compared to what the US government with 400 billion dollars on the Tisch lays like we’re running at Godzilla with a squirt gun.” Companies need much more of the money that the government wants to pay for energy costs to invest in research and innovation.
“Nobody said that that would be enough,” says Johannes Vogel, who is against lowering the price of industrial electricity but in favor of the Growth Opportunities Act. The law is a step that others must follow – reducing bureaucracy or digitization, for example.
Spahn is against the law. “We should talk less about state-controlled investments and more about how we can make Germany so attractive as a location that companies want to invest in Germany.” If there were more growth then, income from taxes and social security contributions would increase by up to 30 billion euros. But the government has no strategy – which you can’t really see in this show, even with the Union economics expert.
And Praktiker Kullmann: He praises the plans of the Greens – investing in the economy with the Growth Opportunities Act and at the same time reducing the industrial electricity price. “I think it’s great that the Greens are walking this path with us. And I’m sure that the FDP will also find the path that the Greens are already on.”