Wednesday, November 03, 2021
No additional credit for climate funds
FDP boss insists on solid finances
Lindner does not want to let the criticism of an economist that he represents an outdated financial policy sit on him. For the FDP leader, the new government stands or falls with solid budget policy. He does not want to tolerate a lush credit line for the climate, for example, despite the debt brake being suspended.
The FDP party chairman Christian Lindner has rejected the idea of expanding net borrowing in the federal budget in 2022 beyond the estimated 100 billion euros. “I think the already planned net borrowing of 100 billion euros in the coming year, to put it cautiously, is already adequate,” said Lindner of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Speculations recently arose that in the coming year, in which the debt brake is still suspended due to the corona pandemic, the government’s energy and climate fund (EKF) would be topped up by a higher billion amount. Lindner said that he doesn’t know anyone “who questions whether the first budget of a future coalition must meet all the requirements for solidity”.
The FDP chairman also warned of the recent significant rise in inflation. He sees “that inflationary risks are systematically underestimated in Germany”. He is not a Kassandra-Rufer, “but recommends paying great attention to currency devaluation. In Europe, some euro countries are already heavily dependent on the ECB buying large amounts of their bonds, which makes it difficult to change course.”
“Keeping an eye on the concerns of the Union voters”
With a view to the successor to the outgoing Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, Lindner appealed that the Bundesbank must remain in its “monetary policy continuity”. He could only recommend a future government to “look beyond the perspective of the three parties involved”. The basic lines in fiscal policy and monetary policy should remain compatible with the majority in our country. “With this and all other questions, the FDP also keeps an eye on what concerns the voters of the CDU and CSU had,” said Linder.
In an interview with the newspaper, the party leader reacted to criticism from the American Nobel Prize winner for economics, Joseph Stiglitz. He had warned against a finance minister, Lindner, who, in the tradition of the conservative Wolfgang Schäuble, would save Germany and Europe to pieces. Lindner now countered: “Beyond his merits, Mr. Stiglitz stands for the belief that growth effects must come from monetary policy and an extensive fiscal policy. On the other hand, I see the danger that the central banks could become dependent on state fiscal policy.” One shouldn’t, like some US economists, “yearn for inflation,” Lindner told the FAZ.