Ongoing dispute over the debt brake
The Greens make Merz an offer
February 27, 2024, 4:51 p.m
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The Green parliamentary group dreams of a Germany investment fund from which the federal, state and local governments can draw. To achieve this, the debt brake should be relaxed. Because traffic light partner FDP probably won’t take part, CDU leader Merz should take the “outstretched hand”.
The Greens are raising new demands in the already strained traffic light coalition and are thus putting themselves in confrontation, especially with their coalition partner FDP. At a parliamentary group meeting in Leipzig, co-party leader Katharina Dröge advocated a Germany investment fund for the federal, state and local governments, which would be financed from new loans. This would require a reform of the debt brake, which the FDP rejects. Dröge admitted that the positions were “far apart at first glance, but there are ways to move towards each other.”
Not only the FDP, but also the SPD took Dröge to task by demanding that the rent cap be extended. “The rent regulation that is agreed in the coalition agreement has been hanging for two years,” said Dröge. When it comes to climate money, she called on Finance Minister Christian Lindner to keep his promise to create a disbursement mechanism by 2025. “We simply expect a bit more speed from him and that promises are kept,” said Dröge. “Our patience is running out a bit.”
In a draft resolution for the meeting, the Greens also advocate a reform of the minimum wage law, which would result in a minimum wage of over 14 euros. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai has already rejected this as a push for a “politically determined minimum wage”.
Offer to CDU leader Merz
Dröge nevertheless spoke of an invitation to talks with the states as well as with CDU leader Friedrich Merz. “In my opinion, people rightly expect us to have a country that simply works,” said Dröge. That means schools where it doesn’t rain and that “the bus also comes regularly to the villages so that, for example, older people who don’t have a driver’s license can somehow still be mobile independently.” This also included fast internet, functioning cell phone reception everywhere, an expansion of the power grid and the foundations for a sustainable, climate-neutral economy.
“We are making a proposal for a Germany investment fund for the federal, state and local governments,” said Dröge. “This is an invitation, an outstretched hand, especially to the federal states, to initiate a reform with us for a country that simply works.” The Greens would also approach opposition leader Merz again and extend a second invitation to talk together about reforming the debt brake. The Greens want to exclude debt for investments from the credit limit.