The Constitutional Court is throwing the traffic light coalition’s budget overboard, and the consequences can hardly be foreseen. About hectic rulers who still have no idea what to do next.
Nothing is normal these days, nothing at all. For a few hours now, there has been a hole in the federal budget that could accommodate 60 billion euro coins. Business as usual? It’s not in there. Scholz tries it anyway.
Wednesday afternoon, the government survey in the Bundestag. First of all, Scholz says in his usual Chancellor coolness that he wants to talk about the ruling from Karlsruhe. The individual effects of the judge’s ruling are now being examined in detail. “This is a decision that the federal government and certainly the budget legislator will take into account.”
Malicious laughter from the opposition, embarrassed silence in the traffic light queues. Everyone knows: This day can plunge the government into a real crisis.
The Federal Constitutional Court has declared the second supplementary budget for 2021 null and void. The money that was intended to combat the corona crisis must not be used for climate protection. 60 billion euros are suddenly missing. The attempt to simply move the money failed. Tricked.
This happened what many in the SPD, FDP and Greens feared – but apparently no one expected. Or no one wanted to do the math. Shortly before the bang from Karlsruhe, traffic light politicians waved away the conversation, expecting at most a reprimand from the constitutional judges. Something between: “Everything’s fine” and “It doesn’t work at all.” Now the worst case has arrived.
Between hope, despair and many question marks
It’s 10:06 a.m. when the breaking news pops up on smartphones. Katja Mast has just had her traditional press breakfast in the Marie Juchacz Hall started in the Bundestag. It’s an extremely bad time. A number of journalists are sitting in front of the SPD parliamentary group manager who will ask her about the possible consequences of the verdict – even though she doesn’t know it yet.
Mast bravely talks about what is on the agenda for this week’s meeting – she too is trying business as usual. But no one is listening carefully. The journalists present read the reasons for the verdict, hacked frantically into the laptop keyboard, and exchanged initial messages with budget politicians at the traffic lights. What’s going on there? One of them wrote a short text message: “Everything is very nervous here… There is a shortage of 60 billion…”
After her usual presentation on the plenary topics, Mast also wanted to “pause for a moment” and let a journalist inform her about the current situation. Shortly afterwards the staccato questioning begins. It’s practically aiming nowhere. Mast can or wants to say only this much on Wednesday morning: she assumes that the budget for 2024 can be passed in December as usual. “Status: now.” Mast was also caught off guard.
This means she has a lot of company. Many traffic light MPs don’t want to comment at first, at least not officially – you have to get an overview first, they say. Many point to the announced statement from the coalition leadership. Chancellor Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) want to comment on the verdict together in the Chancellery. First wait and see what they say – maybe you’ll be wiser afterwards. “There is definitely a Plan B,” writes a budget politician. Between his lines you can read hope, despair – and many question marks.
Does the debt brake have to go? Is a new special fund needed? Will the red pencil now be applied on a very large scale? What does this mean for the so-called budget adjustment meeting, at which the budget for 2024 is supposed to be finalized on Thursday? And what for the future of the coalition?
The nervousness in Berlin’s government district is palpable, the traffic light parties are calling their representatives to special meetings in the afternoon. The parliamentary group leaders also apparently want to wait for the statement from Scholz, Habeck and Lindner. At exactly 12.45 p.m. the time has come. It has to be quick. The Chancellor is expected in the Bundestag in just 15 minutes: the government survey. Just skip it? It’s not an option – unless Scholz wants to dupe Parliament.
The appearance in front of the press in the Chancellery is carried out quickly. After a short seven minutes it is clear: This was an “important judgment” (Scholz), it creates “clarity on the debt brake” (Lindner), “all promised obligations” would be kept (Habeck). But, all three make this clear: the ruling has significant effects on the Climate Transformation Fund – and potentially far-reaching consequences for the financial planning of the federal and state governments. Until these consequences can be concretely foreseen, a kind of spending freeze should apply to the climate fund with a few exceptions. The federal government is obviously trying to gain time.
“And now we’re going to the Bundestag,” says Scholz.
A “slap with double oomph” – or is it all half as bad?
At exactly 1 p.m. he actually appears under the glass dome of the Reichstag, and Habeck and Lindner also take a seat on the government bench – an unusual occurrence. Normally, Habeck and Lindner are represented by their parliamentary state secretaries when Scholz is questioned. Their demonstrative unity shows that nothing is normal today.
After the explosion in Karlsruhe, “a careful examination” of the verdict is now necessary, says Scholz, “not a quick shot”. There is applause from the rows of traffic lights, perhaps out of relief after the hectic hours before. The plenum is full, the mood is tense. Again and again, the traffic light MPs demonstratively clap against the opposition’s demonstrative laughter when Scholz refers to the “important” judgment and announces a “carefully” made answer.
Habeck and Lindner spend a lot of time on their cell phones, while Scholz dutifully answers questions about migration or flood aid for Schleswig-Holstein – or not. Chancellery Minister Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD) is meanwhile leafing through a slim book that one would like to know what is in it. A face-saving solution to the debacle?
The signal sent by the decision from Karlsruhe is fatal: the constitutional judges already intervened when the “heating law” was pushed through, and now they are lowering their thumbs when it comes to the budget. The traffic lights are counted, or at least that’s how Friedrich Merz and Alexander Dobrindt see it. The government survey ended at 2:11 p.m., and less than ten minutes later the opposition leader and the CSU regional group leader stood in front of the Union press wall a few floors higher at the parliamentary group level. The battle for the sovereignty of interpretation has begun.
Dobrindt speaks of a “slap with double oomph,” obviously addressed to the Chancellor. Merz, on the other hand, is proclaiming the “end of all shadow budgets” and warns that there are no more excuses: the traffic light must now make do with the money it has. The Union parliamentary group is not in favor of changing the basic law of the debt rules. But for this the traffic light would need the consent and help of the Union.
Half an hour later, at 2:50 p.m., the first traffic light representative steps in front of the press wall. It is FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr. He makes a brief statement. He says that the ruling from Karlsruhe tightens the debt brake, so he can welcome it. However, he also points out that the current government is incurring less debt than its predecessor. The coalition agreed to align budget practice with the judgment. He doesn’t allow any questions either. Like Scholz, Habeck and Lindner in the Chancellery. What else was he supposed to say? All the answers are still missing.
After all, we can hear from the SPD faction that Olaf Scholz was able to spread a little calm. As if it wasn’t all that bad. The Chancellor is said to have explained matter-of-factly and calmly that they had wanted things to be different, but that they would now just have to see what happens next. The group meeting ended after around 30 minutes. Just business as usual. The only question is: how long will this last?
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
