German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed confidence on Saturday that tough talks with his governing coalition partners to fix the country’s 2024 budget after a historic court ruling will end in an agreement.
Speaking at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) conference, Scholz said there would be no cuts to the welfare state, an area in which Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party (FDP) has called for a reform.
“It is a very difficult task,” Scholz told party delegates in reference to ongoing budget negotiations. “But I would like to take this opportunity to convey confidence that we will be successful.”
Scholz’s government alliance, of which the Greens are also a part, is reeling after last month’s Constitutional Court ruling, which has opened a 60 billion euro ($65 billion) hole in its finances and left it forced to suspend a constitutionally enshrined “debt brake” for the 2023 budget.
Ongoing talks focus on whether it is also possible to suspend the debt brake for next year in order to plug a €17 billion budget hole, leaving spending on industrial projects, climate policy and social welfare.
Scholz, whose approval ratings fell to record lows in a recent ARD poll, said budget negotiations were not an “impossible task” but required a common understanding in the three-way coalition.
“But I am very clear that there will be no dismantling of the welfare state in Germany in a situation like this,” he stressed.
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Source: Ambito
