Defense and infrastructure: Greens reject black and red financial plans-but want to talk

The Greens do not want to agree to the planned billion-dollar defense and infrastructure package from the Union and SPD in its current form. The chairwoman of the Greens parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, said in Berlin, she and co-chair Britta Haßelmann would not recommend the faction.

However, the Greens did not hit all doors. Dröge said it was right to convene the new Bundestag. If that doesn’t happen, the Greens are also ready for faster decisions. But she made it clear: the Greens want a general reform of the debt brake. The left would also have signaled their consent. Talks about communication with them should therefore start now.

In the evening the possible coalitioners and the Greens came together for around an hour and a half. Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU), CSU state group leader Alexander Dobrindt and SPD parliamentary group leader Lars Klingbeil came to Haßelmann and Dröge in a meeting room of the Green Group in the Bundestag.

Greens for reform of the debt brake

Party leader Franziska Brantner previously emphasized: “It is about a sustainable, a real reform of the debt brake, which not only enables our country security, but also a sustainable infrastructure, a good climate frastructure that is promoting this country.” She said that the Greens would not be available to finance election gifts from Union and SPD.

Without the planned financial package, the Union and SPD would be missing the financial basis of their exploratory result and thus also for the coalition negotiations targeted on Thursday. In their explorations for a coalition, the CDU, CSU and SPD had agreed to loosen the debt brake for higher defense spending and to create a special fund of 500 billion euros for the infrastructure.

The constitutional changes should actually be brought into the plenum on Thursday and decided by the old Bundestag on March 18.

CDU/CSU and SPD continue to be possible

Union and SPD reacted calmly. Talks would be recorded with the Greens and also with the FDP, said CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann. He described ideas that have been registered by the Greens as “constructive suggestions”. The prerequisites for this are met. On the question of whether the Union and SPD could also take on the left talks, Linnemann said, he doesn’t see that.

CSU state group leader Alexander Dobrindt said: “That won’t be the last word of the Greens”, and warned: “The security situation requires a different attitude. We are ready to continue negotiating.”

SPD party and parliamentary group leader Lars Klingbeil said about an agreement with the Greens: “I do not give up the confidence that this can be possible.” In the evening he would seek talking to the Greens Group’s tip together with CDU boss Friedrich Merz. The goal must be to “get something behind which the democratic center can gather”.

Greens feel over

Haßelmann said that, as a candidate for the Union, Merz announced that the package would be brought into the Bundestag unchanged. “What he overlooked is that you need two-thirds majorities for such an operation.” It is not enough to only appeal to the Greens’ sense of responsibility.

Green Co-boss Felix Banaszak said with a view to the Union and SPD: “We are not available for a political style that repeatedly relies on setting something together, afterwards to present it to those you need to implement it and then say that the Greens have to agree anyway.”

Dröge said that Union and the SPD wanted to create a treasure chest with play money to put it in tax relief, a reform of the agricultural diesel and an increase in the commuter flat rate. “We are certainly not available for play money, and that’s why we will not agree to this suggestions.” The package “no longer financed a single euro in investments in Germany”. She criticized that climate protection has so far been no role in the plans of the Union and the SPD.

A possible compromise

In terms of content, the Greens had requested detailed suggestions and money also for climate protection. During the defense, the parliamentary group had insisted on taking into account the intelligence services more. You now want to present your own bill very quickly.

A possible compromise could be a splitting of the suggestions on infrastructure and defense, since the Greens also criticized that the Union and the SPD wanted to present a single bill.

Linke is ready to talk

The left, on the voices of which it was important in the new Bundestag, signaled that it would be available for discussions about the abolition or reform of the debt brake. This was confirmed by the incumbent co-faction leader Heidi Reichinnek and welcomed the announcement of the Greens not to carry the approach of the Union and the SPD in this way. When asked, however, Reichinnek indicated that participation in the reform of the debt brake would not necessarily fail. She said that if the debt brake was reformed as a whole, this enables investments, for example in housing, in health, and education. “How exactly these rooms will be used, the Bundestag decides on the budget.”

Meanwhile, the left wants to prevent billions in decisions with old majorities in the Bundestag with an urgent procedure in front of the Federal Constitutional Court. As the reigning faction management announced, individual members of the Bundestag and the future parliamentary group in Karlsruhe made the application for an interim order. The reason for the application states that the new MPs are violated in their rights of participation. It should still be decided whether the parliamentary group will proceed legally in other points.

The AfD parliamentary group wanted to submit a so-called organ system and an urgent application to the Federal Constitutional Court during the day to prevent the planned special meetings of the Old Bundestag to relax the debt brake. This was announced by the faction. Individual members of the AfD and the former AfD MP Joana Cotar had also called Karlsruhe.