Lars Klingbeil: His test of fire as finance minister (opinion)

Is of no use, it can be seen for everyone anyway, so Lars Klingbeil does not talk around it. Now two budgets have been set up in no time, the finance minister praises itself, but also admits that the one is still coming for 2027-and becomes really painful for black and red.

Well, the top treasurer of the coalition did not formulate it so drastically when presenting his financial planning on Wednesday afternoon, but it would not have been exaggerated. Because what is going on on the Union and the SPD is very deeply stacked with the term “massive challenges” (Klingbeil). It becomes political hard work; An enormous effort – and a test. For the finance minister, but also for the coalition as a whole.

By 2029, black-red will be missing 172 billion euros, as early as the coming year-if the budget is set up for 2027-34.3 billion must be scratched together. How should the “need for action”, that is, the uncovered checks, be dissolved? Still unclear. It won’t work without privation on a large scale, that much is safe.

It should therefore not be a coincidence that Klingbeil, as a precaution and several times, points out that the billion dollar gap would have emerged during the coalition negotiations. This should distribute responsibility over several shoulders, according to the motto: Nobody should say that he or she did not know that the record investments (especially through debt) had to go hand in hand with a rigid austerity course (in the core budget).

“This will be one of the greatest domestic challenges that we have to deal with in the next twelve months,” says Klingbeil. He knows exactly: for himself too.

Klingbeil now has to swear to a hard austerity course that knows practically only losers. The finance minister brings it to this formula: everyone has to save, everyone would have to move, a “mix of many measures” is needed so that the household can be achieved in 2027. In other words: If the master plan that still has to be conceived does not hurt everyone, it is no good.

But will everyone move – or threaten bitter distribution struggles around every single billion? Saving, shortening and painting are not vocabulary anyway that trigger feelings of happiness. Especially not in an upcoming super election year, which also makes coalition partners susceptible to have an eye on your own advantage.

Klingbeil is facing a test of patience that could rock up for the test of power. On the question of whether everyone gathers behind his savings appeal, his authority as finance minister and vice chancellor also depends. As it shouldn’t go, the SPD boss witnessed up close.

In the traffic light coalition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had joined the budget talks and thus secured that a) his finance minister does not have enough procuration and b) the matter was quite fixed. The traffic light was still dismantled-because of a significantly smaller household gap, when black and red has to close it.

Sure, there is also an opportunity in this ominous mixture. The coalition can provide evidence that it is also related to difficult situations. There had been doubts recently, see the wasted Karlsruhe judge election. If all cabinet members take the “task criticism” seriously, as it is called in technical jargon, and make savings of savings self-critically, this should strengthen the black and red community spirit. The Minister of Finance Klingbeil can mean that he can not only be able to record record investments, but also consolidate and a solid housekeeper.

But, as I said, black-red must first provide this evidence. The sheer number of expert commissions – whether for pension, care, health or debt brake – raises considerable doubts. As a precaution, the coalition has outsourced foreseeable conflicts, possibly hoping to be able to withdraw to the expert opinions in painful decisions and the resulting cuts.

In the end, an overall package should ensure that the billion dollar gap can be closed. Klingbeil insists on the results of the Commission, savings from the ministries and also wants to take a critical view of subsidies. The final answer of how one can spend “every single euro” more effectively, as the finance minister says, is primarily within his area of responsibility.