Monday 17th May 2021
Rejection of FDP plans
Laschet doesn’t believe in tax cuts
With a view to the burdens caused by the corona pandemic, CDU boss Armin Laschet sees little room for tax breaks soon. While he contradicts a demand of the FDP, he criticizes the Greens and their statements on short-haul flights as populist elsewhere.
The closer the Bundestag election on September 26, the clearer it becomes what the parties have in mind for the coming legislative period. Most recently, the FDP decided on an election program at its party congress, which of course also potential coalition partners such as the CDU registered. Its chairman Armin Laschet now commented on the plans of the liberals.
The Union’s candidate for chancellor sees little chance for the FDP’s demand for tax breaks. “Tax relief and tax cuts are not the first thought that comes to my mind in view of this budgetary situation,” said Laschet. Germany will “after the federal election to face major budget problems as a result of the pandemic”. The country will then be faced with the “ambitious task of enabling so much economic growth so that we can get back to solid state finances”.
The FDP had made it clear at their federal party congress on the weekend that they did not want to participate in a federal government after the election that would increase the burden on citizens and companies. Rather, by shifting the tax rate, it wants to provide relief: According to the Liberals, the top tax rate should only apply if the income is higher than before.
Laschet ruled in North Rhine-Westphalia with the FDP and had also called the party a preferred partner in the federal government. As conceivable coalitions with the participation of the Union, black-green or a Jamaica alliance of the Union, FDP and Greens are also considered after the federal election.
Criticism of plans by the Greens and the SPD
The CDU boss also has objections to an election promise made by the Greens and the SPD. Laschet is clearly opposed to calls to abolish short-haul flights and to make cheap holiday flights more expensive. These advances are populist and “without any impact on climate policy,” he said to the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock and her SPD counterpart Olaf Scholz.
Baerbock had said on the weekend of “Bild am Sonntag”: “In the future, there should no longer be short-haul flights.” Even cheap prices such as 29 euros for Mallorca flights should no longer exist if you are serious about climate policy. Scholz had previously told ProSieben that it would take action against cheap flights and set a price limit.
“That is of course again a typically green idea. Anything that you want to have a populist effect is called for bans,” Laschet said of Baerbock’s approach. “What is a short haul?” Asks the Union’s candidate for chancellor. “How does she want to ban that? With what legal means?” You have to be able to get from A to B quickly. “And if the train can do it faster, people will use the train.” The Greens must be ready to change planning law and approval procedures so that it no longer takes 20 to 25 years before a new railway line is ready. “In case of doubt, a flight price increase of 50 to 60 euros affects a low-income earner who makes such a vacation trip once a year,” said Laschet.
Baerbock: It’s not about prohibition
Her call for a prospective abolition of short and cheap flights concretized the Greens leader Baerbock. She made it clear “that it is not a question of banning flights, but that we have to push ahead with the expansion of the railways so that short-haul flights are superfluous,” she said at a press conference after the meeting of the Green Party Council. “In order for us to be able to reduce the number of flights, train journeys must become more attractive.”
This requires “massive planning acceleration” for the expansion and modernization of the rail network, according to Baerbock. In addition, cheaper tickets are needed through a reduction in train path prices, closer frequency on long-distance routes and a revitalization of night train traffic in Germany and Europe. The train must be “faster and, above all, more comfortable”. In order for the railway to become competitive, air traffic should not be subsidized with public money at the same time.
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