“Surprising in every way”
Lindner smashes Habeck’s advance
February 2, 2024, 9:20 p.m
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In the Bundestag, Minister Habeck proposes to strengthen the economy with a new special fund. But just one day later, there was headwind from within his own government: Finance Minister Lindner was surprised and explained why he doesn’t think much of the idea.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has clearly opposed a new debt-financed special pot to strengthen the economy. The FDP leader told “Welt am Sonntag” that Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s proposal had not been agreed upon. “The idea was surprising in every way.”
According to Lindner, the Minister of Economics is showing that he is dissatisfied with the federal government’s existing economic policy and believes something completely different is necessary. This is an unusual process. Lindner added that he was not convinced by subsidies on credit. “In this way we would deform the social market economy.” Instead, more flexibility is needed on the labor market and less bureaucracy.
Habeck brought a so-called special fund into play in the Bundestag on Thursday in order to solve the structural problems of the German economy. Because the debt brake should be adhered to by the traffic light government through a coalition agreement, a new special fund is a possible way out. Companies could then be granted tax breaks and additional depreciation options as they wished. The Vice Chancellor did not give an exact volume.
However, the Green politician said that the so-called Growth Opportunities Act could be increased by a factor of ten or 50. The planned law, which is currently stuck in the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, provides tax relief for small and medium-sized businesses. The volume will be around seven billion euros per year from 2024 and a total of over 32 billion euros in the next few years.