The overview in short reports on developments, results and assessments relating to German politics:
DIW criticizes Habeck’s demand for 3.5 percent for defense
The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, has spoken out in favor of higher defense spending, but criticized Green Party candidate Robert Habeck for his specific demands. Habeck is right that Germany will have to spend a lot more money on defense and security in the future. In addition, there would be great burdens on the reconstruction of Ukraine. “However, I think the figure of 3.5 percent is made out of thin air; it lacks an objective derivation,” Fratzscher told the Rheinische Post. He suspects that Habeck’s demand is a tactical maneuver in the federal election campaign to underline the absurdity of the debt brake and its catastrophic consequences. Fratzscher said that without bypassing the debt brake, a new federal government would not be able to afford any additional spending on defense, without cutting other investments even further and severely weakening the economy.
The SPD and CSU warn against collaboration with the AfD
Before the planned coalition negotiations between the FPÖ and ÖVP in Austria, the SPD and CSU warned against any cooperation with the AfD. SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch told Bild: “Austria shows: When conservative parties tear down the firewall to the right, it is a danger to our democracy. Democrats must remain willing to compromise, listen to people and express their concerns about their jobs, increasingly expensive lives and take secure pensions seriously. But democratic parties must never become a stirrup for right-wing extremists.” CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said to Bild: “Right-wing parties have always had the goal of fighting and destroying the bourgeois parties. Nothing has changed in that regard to this day. That’s another reason why you have to keep a maximum distance and keep these parties away from responsibility and at the same time do everything in our power to make them disappear again.”
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2025 03:04 ET (08:04 GMT)