Reminder to coalition partners
Habeck “wonders” about the traffic light pension dispute
May 13, 2024, 11:55 a.m
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Some argue, others have no understanding: Robert Habeck is calling for a quick solution to the dispute between the FDP and SPD over pension package II. There is actually a solution for that too. His party is “above things,” he says in the ntv Frühstart.
The dispute over the budget is once again causing hardening between the traffic light parties. The FDP with Finance Minister Christian Lindner is calling for savings, for example in pension policy. Protest comes primarily from the Chancellor’s party, the SPD. And the Greens? According to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, they are “above things.” “I’m surprised. And the surprise comes from the fact that we actually have a solution,” says the Economics Minister in the early start of ntv. “We have a pension package that the SPD and FDP essentially came up with. Both got their wishes,” said Habeck.
The FDP demands a “generationally fair budget policy”. This must comply with the debt limit of the Basic Law and must not overburden young people when financing their pensions. This is the core of a five-point paper that is to be approved by the party’s executive board this Monday. The SPD rejects the proposals.
The dispute causes a lack of understanding for Habeck, he is pushing for a quick solution: “The Chancellor, the Finance Minister and I will hopefully present solutions soon. In this respect, everything is actually on the way. I think we should leave the dispute quickly. ” At the same time, Habeck wants to create incentives for employees. “There is a lack of hands and minds everywhere. Different people can make a contribution,” says the minister.
Complicity with other parties
Meanwhile, the Green Party’s top candidates began their campaign tours for the European elections on Monday. Habeck himself will intervene in the election campaign on May 21st. The start of the street election campaign has been overshadowed in recent days by attacks on politicians and party volunteers. Habeck himself is responsible for these attacks. “This will intimidate a lot of people,” he fears. “It is an attack on the space of democracy. We should be correspondingly careful and also robust in our means.”
He also sees complicity in other parties. “Surely all politicians who, like me, speak on a big stage here should consider whether they have always said the right things in the past few months and whether they have made a contribution to treating the other side fairly,” said the Green. Habeck doesn’t say who he means specifically: “I think they know that themselves. But I hope you’ll think about it.”
Attacks on politicians “a wake-up call”
Habeck does not yet see democracy in danger because of the attacks. “That’s a right-wing narrative. It’s actually the other way around.” The discussions and the reaction of civil society showed that the protective reflexes for democracy in Germany are fully intact. “This is more of a wake-up call that, I think, comes just in time. If everyone understands what is actually at stake here and behaves accordingly.”
Habeck wants to get a “full double-digit result” in the upcoming European elections. In 2019, the Greens were the second strongest force. “This comparison with the past doesn’t really help,” he says. Today we live in a completely different time. “At that time we were in the opposition. There was no war in Europe, no high energy prices, no economic crisis.” Habeck continues: “I believe that we will have a pretty brilliant election campaign in the last three to four weeks. And then we will get a very good result.”
For Habeck, the upcoming European elections are an “extremely important election”. “The future, security and also the peace and freedom of Europe are essentially established and chosen through the composition of the European Parliament,” he says.