Traffic light crisis
Union praises Lindner – SPD and Greens are sticking to the coalition
The economic downturn has increased the centrifugal forces in the traffic lights. Will the coalition survive the final discussions on the 2025 budget? Söder claims to have already heard the “death bell” ringing.
The Union has showered FDP leader Christian Lindner with praise for his latest proposals for economic and social policy. Politicians from the CDU and CSU immediately linked this with renewed calls for early elections. From the ranks of his coalition partners, however, the Federal Finance Minister is primarily warned to concentrate on his job. Top representatives of the SPD and the Greens made it clear that they wanted to stick to the government alliance.
The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken nevertheless expressed doubts as to whether the coalition would last until the regular election date on September 28, 2025. “Nobody wants to venture a prediction at the moment as to exactly when the next federal election will take place. In the coalition, that cannot be denied, the house is burning right now,” she said at an SPD event in Hamburg.
She clearly rejected Lindner’s demands: “By and large, these points that he listed there cannot be implemented in the coalition.” Co-SPD leader Lars Klingbeil reiterated that when it comes to “the rich getting richer now” and the working middle class should have less wages, work longer hours and receive less pension later, the SPD “will not take part anywhere.”
The candidate for the Green Party chairmanship, Felix Banaszak, compared the traffic light coalition to a marriage in the year of separation. He said on ZDF: “Love won’t come back, but you still have responsibility for your children. And I think you should live up to this responsibility first.”
Klingbeil reminded the coalition of their responsibility. “I notice that political Berlin is particularly nervous these days and there is a lot of speculation about what will happen next,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “But that’s exactly what annoys people in this country. Me too, by the way,” he added. Many people are worried about the economic situation or even see their jobs at risk.
“And they want to see a government that doesn’t focus on itself every day, but that does everything it can to save these jobs,” emphasized Klingbeil. “I agree more with my FDP colleague Volker Wissing: Governing is not easy, but we have a responsibility to ensure that it succeeds.”
Federal Transport Minister Wissing spoke out in favor of his party remaining in the coalition in a guest article for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Friday. Shortly afterwards, Lindner’s economic paper became known.
In it, the FDP leader calls for an “economic turnaround” with a “partly fundamental revision of key political decisions”. Specifically, there is talk of an immediate moratorium to stop all new regulations. It goes on to say that, as an immediate measure, the solidarity surcharge should be abolished for everyone and that national climate targets must be replaced by European ones.
The paper contains suggestions, some of which were taken verbatim from proposals that the Union parliamentary group had submitted to the Bundestag in the past two years, writes CDU leader and Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz in his email newsletter “MerzMail”. “The details may be debated, but the proposals go in the right direction. Overall, they are aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of our economy and are therefore essentially and appropriately supply-oriented economic policy.”
Union praises “courageous paper” from Lindner
“The finance minister has presented a courageous paper that ruthlessly analyzes the disastrous situation in our economy and basically gives the right supply policy answers,” said the parliamentary managing director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), to the German Press Agency.
However, Lindner’s proposals are “the complete opposite of what the traffic light has been doing for three years” and cannot be reconciled with the “debt-financed sovereign wealth fund ideas” of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), said Frei. Rather, Lindner’s paper, which has now become known, is a “declaration of war on the Greens.”
Where will the recovery come from?
In its autumn projection, the federal government expects economic output to decline by 0.2 percent this year. The major economic research institutes expect a decline of 0.1 percent. The latest tax estimate predicted a mini-plus of 0.7 billion euros for the federal government. According to Lindner, this money has already been budgeted for in the budget.
The budget for the coming year is usually finalized in the so-called adjustment meeting of the Bundestag’s budget committee. This meeting is scheduled for November 14th.
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann said on ZDF: “De facto, the traffic light exit has been prepared by the FDP. And then we should do it. This country cannot afford such uncertainty for a day. That’s why new elections are needed.”
CSU boss Markus Söder told “Bild”: “It’s over: the death knell of the traffic light is ringing.” If Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) does not have the strength to end his coalition, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier must intervene.
FDP has to worry about returning to the Bundestag
If the traffic light coalition actually breaks up, the FDP’s renewed participation in government would be questionable as things stand. According to recent surveys, the FDP is currently worried about its return to the Bundestag. But even if she were to make it again, a black-yellow coalition, like the one that last existed from 2009 to 2013 under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), would not have a majority. The Union is currently at around 32 percent in surveys.
dpa
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.
