The dispute over cuts in the 2024 budget between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP is ongoing. The chairman of the CSU MPs warns of a strengthening of the AfD. And senses opportunities for the Union.
In view of the ongoing budget dispute in the traffic light coalition, CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt has spoken out in favor of an early election on June 9, 2024, parallel to the European elections. “The traffic light experiment has lost its legitimacy. An appropriate reaction to this would be new elections,” said the chairman of the CSU representatives in the Bundestag to the German Press Agency in Berlin in view of the poor poll numbers for the traffic lights and the protests against the planned budget cuts.
The path to an early election is not easy: among other things, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would have to ask a vote of confidence in parliament and lose. But that is not foreseeable.
Dobrindt said he was wondering why Scholz “doesn’t have the strength to hand the decision about his policies back to the voters.” “That would be a politically appropriate reaction in this desolate situation that the traffic lights have brought Germany into.” The traffic light “staggers from one wrong decision to the next without a guide.” However, Scholz is shying away from the vote of confidence in the Bundestag, “because it is obvious that there is no longer a majority for the traffic light experiment.”
“Time has expired for joining Scholz’s government”
When asked whether the Union would be prepared to enter a coalition led by Scholz for a certain period of time if the traffic light breaks, Dobrindt said that the Chancellor had already been made a corresponding offer to overcome the biggest challenges. He mentioned the topics of the energy crisis, migration and the economy. “There was never a reaction to that,” criticized the CSU politician. “The time for this is up. New elections would be necessary in order to gain legitimacy for a new policy.”
However, if Scholz “clears the way for new elections, there is also a way of working with us,” said Dobrindt. Among other things, respectful interaction is necessary. “The traffic lights have so far criminally refused to do so.” If Scholz clears the way for a new election in 2024, a new Union-led government will prepare the budget for the current year after the election. “That would also be the solution to the budget crisis.” Until then there will be a provisional budget management. “After the election, we will have a very quick budget that ends left-green ideology and offers real growth impulses to secure prosperity.”
“Wagenknecht takes a dangerous path”
The day of the European elections on June 9th would be an ideal date for a new election, said Dobrindt. He sees “the danger that the AfD will become the strongest party in the European elections if politics in Germany does not change.” With every day that the traffic light is in office longer, the AfD will experience further growth. “The constant polarization and emotionalization of the population caused by the traffic light policy is discharged in the protest, for which the AfD provides the rallying point.”
Dobrindt warned that the new party of former left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht was “taking an extremely dangerous path.” He added: “With her mixture of left-wing socialism and right-wing foreign policy, Wagenknecht will bring a dormant potential of opponents of the system to the ballot box and thus work together with the AfD to further destabilize Germany.”
Dobrindt blames Ampel for the rise of the AfD
If the AfD becomes the strongest party in the European elections, the risk will also increase “that the most difficult election results could arise in the three state elections in the east,” said Dobrindt. Forecasts see the AfD at record levels, especially in the east. In September, new state parliaments will be elected in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg. “The rise of the AfD can only be explained by the traffic light’s disrespectful policy in terms of content and style. This must be stopped urgently in order not to one day experience parts of Germany becoming ungovernable for the political center.”
The Greens are “the main problem of the traffic light government with their ideological obstinacy,” criticized Dobrindt. He cannot currently imagine the Greens participating in government under a CDU/CSU leadership. “Anyone who wants to credibly represent a policy change must also say clearly that green ideology must have no place in the next federal government.”
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.
