Traffic Light Coalition
Klingbeil before the coalition committee: “Week of decision”
Get it together or throw it away? There is a sense of crisis in the traffic lights. The Chancellor is meeting his cabinet colleagues Lindner and Habeck for talks this week. What is the starting position?
There is a lot of talk this week in the deadlocked dispute in the traffic light government – SPD leader Lars Klingbeil speaks of a week of decision-making. The calendar is full and the list of topics for the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP is also long. These include the future of the traffic light alliance, the direction of economic policy and the result of the US election. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) met for talks in the Chancellery on Sunday evening.
The calendar – Wednesday Coalition Committee
On Wednesday, the day after the US election, the coalition committee, which also includes the party and parliamentary group leaders, will meet. The focus will primarily be on two controversial topics at the traffic light: the billion-dollar hole in the federal budget, which must be plugged until the budget committee’s adjustment meeting, and the course to get out of the economic crisis.
Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Lindner will meet several times before the coalition committee meeting to look for ways out of the traffic light crisis. According to dpa information, two to three such discussions are planned from Monday.
Klingbeil: “Does everyone still have enough breath?”
SPD leader Klingbeil spoke of a “week of decision” in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. “And I think what is important for the coalition committee on Wednesday is to first clarify: Does everyone still have enough breath for us to continue on this path – which is challenging, which is also exhausting – together (. ..)” It must be agreed together what can be done to secure jobs, advance the economy and promote economic growth.
FDP leader Lindner said on the ZDF program “Berlin Direkt” that, given the current challenges and also with a view to the period after the US election, Germany needs “a government that has a clear course.”
When asked whether he wanted to end the coalition with the SPD and the Greens if there was no agreement by the budget adjustment meeting scheduled for November 14, Lindner replied that he would not be tempted to formulate an ultimatum. He made a suggestion “how we can lead our country on a growth path.”
Lindner: Wait for suggestions from others
The dispute within the coalition had recently intensified due to Habeck’s proposal for a state investment and infrastructure fund and a paper by Linder with ideas for an economic policy turnaround.
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. Lindner complained of “indiscretion” after the paper became public on Friday.
On Sunday, Lindner said that the coalition partners would now look at the different concepts together. “My, our suggestions are on the table,” and he is now “waiting for others’ suggestions.”
Klingbeil and Banaszak warn Lindner about the presidential election in the USA
Given the world situation, SPD and Green politicians warned Lindner to pull together. The candidate for the Green Party chairmanship, Felix Banaszak, said in the ARD program “Report from Berlin” that he could not advise anyone “to play publicly all the time with an end to the coalition. As I said, in two days the USA and The question is: Will we get through this relatively well or will we have Donald Trump again?”
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said on the show: “We have an international situation that is really challenging in many places. We don’t know what will happen in the elections in the USA on Tuesday.” That’s why the bickering at the top of the federal government and the provocation by the coalition partner make no sense and no fun.
Criticism from the SPD about the traffic lights
The SPD MP Ralf Stegner accused the traffic light coalition of being unprofessional. “What’s going on between the tops of the traffic lights can no longer be surpassed in terms of unprofessionalism. Nobody in the country understands anymore why those responsible in the government are disuniting themselves so much when there are huge problems and escalating wars all around us,” said Stegner the “Rheinische Post”.
The Chancellor is now responsible. “Olaf Scholz has exhausted the maximum amount of long-suffering even for a Hanseatic, now it will have to come to an end. Politics is currently more absurd than cabaret artists could imagine, it cannot continue like this,” said Stegner.
dpa
Source: Stern
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