Sunday 10 October 2021
“Everyone knows our demands”
FDP does not want to give in on the subject of taxes
During the talks between the SPD, FDP and the Greens about forming a government in the coming week, tough discussions about financial issues are pending. FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing affirmed that the FDP was not prepared to make any concessions on tax increases or the debt brake.
Before the next exploratory round with the SPD and the Greens, FDP general secretary Volker Wissing underscored the party’s key financial policy positions by forming a traffic light coalition. “Everyone we talked to knows our demands: no tax increases and no loosening of the debt brake,” Wissing told “Bild am Sonntag”. “We hold on to that. Debt does not create a future.”
These are issues with potential for conflict for the explorations, which are to continue on Monday. The SPD and the Greens want to burden high incomes and assets more heavily, according to the principle “stronger shoulders carry more”, so that money is there for those who have little. For the FDP, however, tax increases and redistribution are red lines. The Greens are in favor of loosening the debt brake in order to enable massive investments in climate protection and infrastructure. The FDP is against it.
Green leader Robert Habeck had recently made it clear on Deutschlandfunk that he expected the biggest conflicts in the exploratory talks with taxes, debts and the financing of climate protection measures. The negotiators of the SPD, Greens and FDP want to set the course for a possible first traffic light coalition at federal level in the coming week. The first results are expected for Friday. The Greens and FDP have explicitly kept the possibility of a Jamaica coalition with the Union open, even if they are now exploring priority with the SPD.