Instant programs and criticism
Parties position themselves for hot autumn
09/01/2023 06:59 p.m
The second half of the legislature begins next week with the budget debate. The parties try beforehand to sharpen their profiles with catalogs of demands. The focus is often on concerns about the weakening economy.
At the end of the parliamentary summer break, a number of factions are preparing position papers and various programs for the second half of the legislative period and the political debates in autumn. In addition to the confrontation with the political opponent, demands for steps towards a noticeable revival of the economy often play the main role.
At the beginning of their catalog of demands, the Union faction puts a general settlement with the traffic light government. “It’s no use to us if we do the best climate protection here by shutting down industry, prosperity in Germany is massively reduced and CO2 emissions continue happily around the world,” said parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz at the end of an exam Head of the CDU/CSU deputies.
In addition to rejecting central traffic light projects such as increasing citizen benefits or basic child security, the CDU leader also insisted on a no to the heating law in the Bundestag. On the other hand, he signals approval for the Growth Opportunities Act. Subject to the final version, there is “a certain inclination in the parliamentary group’s executive committee to agree to this growth opportunity law because, in our opinion, it is at least going in the right direction,” he said. “Relieving the economy, including taxes and levies, is not wrong now in this situation that we are in.” What happens in the Bundesrat, however, would have to be decided by the states that are co-financing the law.
Specifically, the head of the Union faction passed numerous measures to boost the ailing economy and to relieve citizens and companies. The Union can implement the proposals of the “Sauerland declaration“But not alone.
- For example, social security contributions are to be capped at 40 percent and overtime and work after retirement age are to be tax-free
- The total tax burden on companies must be capped at 25 percent
- With a view to energy prices, electricity tax is to be reduced to the statutory EU minimum of 0.05 cents per kilowatt hour and grid fees are to be halved
- A quantum leap in network expansion, the construction of new gas-fired power plants and the expansion of renewable energies is also necessary
- Finally, the Union demands from the federal government a well-calculated concept for a time-limited bridging electricity price that is also effective for small and medium-sized industrial companies
Meanwhile, the co-governing FDP has identified energy costs, bureaucracy costs and the shortage of skilled workers as the three main problems. The faction summed up their demands position paper together. It is said that Germany’s competitiveness has been neglected for more than a decade. Major challenges such as digitization, decarbonization, demographics and systemic competition between democracies and autocracies have not been tackled enough. In order to make up for the deficits, the Liberals are demanding, among other things:
- a reduction in the electricity tax to the EU minimum rate of 0.05 cents and its complete abolition in the future
- a halt to the dismantling of the nuclear power plants that are still operational
- tax relief for the economy
- reducing bureaucracy and subsidies
- openness to technology in climate policy
- the introduction of a share pension and more flexible working hours
- The FDP continues to reject a state-subsidized energy electricity price
- An expansion of social benefits is also rejected – the strategy paper calls for an “expansion stop” here
In the meantime, excited by its currently high poll numbers, the AfD presented an immediate program for a federal government that it led. The ten-point strategy includes:
- Reduction of energy costs (e.g. return to nuclear power, cancellation of CO2 taxes)
- a rigid refugee policy
- the processing of the corona measures
- the “unspeakable ban on oil and gas heating” and the “completely unnecessary ban on combustion engines” are being scrapped
- the commuter allowance increases to 50 cents from the first kilometer
- the Nord Stream pipelines will be repaired and put into operation
- Negotiations to reduce EU contributions and to establish a new European economic and interest group
CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Merz was asked after a meeting of his group what he said about the AfD government plan. The CDU leader replied: “Nothing at all.”
Crunch and more than that, it should be in the coming week, but then between the government and the opposition. The Bundestag meets again after the summer break – traditionally for the first reading of the next federal budget. Opposition leader Merz will not miss the opportunity to turn the general debate on the federal government’s policy into a general settlement on Wednesday.
The federal government, for its part, had one in the middle of the week Ten point plan presented. Among other things, tax relief for companies of seven billion euros a year until 2028 and an acceleration of approval procedures are planned. However, the industrial electricity price demanded by the SPD parliamentary group and the Greens to cushion the high energy costs does not appear in the paper.