Policy paper: Christian Lindner challenges the coalition

Word is circulating in the coalition star-Information a new 18-page policy paper from Finance Minister Christian Lindner, which could further exacerbate the coalition’s crisis. In it, Lindner calls for an “economic turnaround with a partial fundamental revision of key political decisions” in order to “avert damage to Germany as a business location.”

The finance minister is pushing for several immediate measures and strictly rejects changes to the debt brake and new special funds. “Germany needs a realignment of its economic policy that is quantitatively significant and of a fundamental nature,” it says.

The FDP leader uses the paper to confront the other coalition partners because the letter contains demands that were previously considered non-negotiable in the coalition. Lindner is calling for immediate action to abolish the solidarity surcharge and substantial changes to ongoing legislative proposals in order to relieve the burden on industry and medium-sized businesses. “The German economy immediately needs new financial and regulatory leeway in order to be able to react independently to its changed framework conditions,” writes Lindner.

“As an immediate measure, the solidarity surcharge, which is mainly paid by companies, self-employed people, freelancers and highly qualified people, should be abolished,” it says. “Constitutional concerns as well as the federal government’s sole freedom of decision without the involvement of the Federal Council suggest this. In a first step, it should be reduced by 2.5 percentage points to 3 percent in 2025. In a second step, it could then be eliminated completely in 2027. “

At the same time, Lindner is bringing a reduction in corporate tax into play. “In order to strengthen the credibility of this policy, corporate tax should be significantly reduced by two percentage points immediately in 2025 as a first step. Further steps should follow in 2027 and 2029 at the latest.” To speed up the reduction in bureaucracy, Lindner is pushing for an “immediate moratorium to stop all regulations” for the next three years. Laws that the coalition is still planning and that are primarily being pushed forward by the SPD would also be affected. “New legislative proposals should either be eliminated entirely or, where this is not possible, designed in such a way that bureaucracy and regulation are reduced as a result of the project and in no way increased. This applies in particular to the version of the Tariff Compliance Act presented by the Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and to the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act , the Pay Transparency Act, the Employee Data Act and the employer-financed family start time.” Lindner emphasizes: “They all do not fit the challenges of the current economic environment in the form currently being discussed.”

The paper comes at an extremely sensitive time because the coalition partners are completely at loggerheads when it comes to economic policy and the traffic light is losing faith that it will last until the end of the legislative period. Lindner’s writing is also so explosive because it seems like historical déjà vu. In September 1982, the then FDP Economics Minister Otto Graf Lambsdorff presented his proposals for an economic turnaround to the social-liberal coalition. The famous “concept for a policy to overcome weak growth and combat unemployment” is still considered a divorce letter today. The proposals deviate so much from the government’s course that Chancellor Helmut Schmidt dissolves the coalition. The FDP ministers resign.

Lindner’s letter also reads as an imposition on the Greens. Without mentioning Economics Minister Robert Habeck by name, Lindner tackles his economic policy ideas. “This school of thought relies heavily on state technology selection and the associated control of the use of resources, primarily through bans and subsidies. The economy should align itself in detail with the ideas and future ideas of politicians, which thus determine the respective winners and losers,” it says.

The Greens are also likely to notice that Lindner is questioning the national climate goals and wants to replace them with the European climate goals. “It does not help climate protection if Germany, as a supposed global pioneer, tries to make its economy climate-neutral as quickly as possible and consequently with avoidable economic damage and political upheavals,” writes the minister. “Rather, it is important not to strive for the role of a pioneer, but rather that of a role model that combines a growing economy with the reduction of CO₂ emissions and increases global emissions reductions through strategic action. This includes, in particular, the pricing of international climate protection “To set CO₂ and to pay out climate-related transfers with a sense of proportion and only in step with other countries.”