Debt brake reform called for
SPD MPs want a new special fund
April 18, 2024, 12:37 p.m
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The special fund worth 100 billion euros will soon be used up. But the Bundeswehr needs more money just as much as Ukraine, which is under attack. The two largest state groups in the SPD parliamentary group are bringing a new special fund into play – and a reform of the debt brake.
The chairmen of the influential SPD state groups North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony/Bremen in the Bundestag are calling for a new special fund to strengthen internal and external security. “External security cannot be thought of without internal security,” says a position paper by Wiebke Esdar, Dirk Wiese and Johann Saathoff for a closed meeting that begins in Norderney. “Therefore, at least 20 percent of the sum in the new special fund must be invested in the enormous challenges due to the change in times for internal security under the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.”
The paper is available to ntv and was first reported by “Spiegel”. The two state groups, which with 77 elected representatives make up a third of the SPD’s 207 members of the Bundestag, are currently meeting on the North Sea island of Norderney. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius are also expected at the meeting.
Three days after the Russian attack on Ukraine, in his turnaround speech, Scholz launched a loan-financed special fund of 100 billion euros for the armament of the Bundeswehr. According to current planning, the money will be used up at the end of 2027. It is unclear how the NATO goal of investing two percent of gross domestic product in defense will be achieved. The three SPD regional group leaders believe that another special fund is necessary, which should also benefit the police and other authorities that take care of internal security.
Ukraine aid outside the debt rule?
The group also suggests removing aid funds for Ukraine from the debt brake. They should be financed by loans and no longer limit the scope for action in the budget. This would mean that the federal government would have a double-digit billion amount more at its disposal. At the moment, the traffic light is heading towards serious distortions again because Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is demanding flat-rate savings contributions from all ministries when preparing the 2025 budget. Development Minister Svenja Schulze from the SPD, among others, rejects this.
The position paper also calls for a reform of the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law. “Generational justice is not measured by debt or a black zero,” write the MPs. “Today we have a duty to invest to ensure a good education system, a strong economy and a functioning infrastructure for future generations.” In addition, the income tax should be reformed: the MPs want to “relieve the burden on low and normal earners right through to skilled workers and place a greater burden on a small percentage of the very highest earners.”
The coalition partner FDP rejects both tax increases and a reform of the debt brake. The Union would also have to agree to the latter because a change to the Basic Law requires a two-thirds majority. At its federal party conference in December, the SPD had already spoken out in favor of a one-off crisis levy on particularly high assets. In their position paper, the MPs from Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia also support this demand.