The overview in short reports on developments, results and assessments relating to German politics:
Traffic light politicians are pushing for changes to the budget
Politicians from the traffic light coalition are pushing for changes to the planned budget for next year. “The proposed cuts in the agricultural sector cannot stand on this scale,” said the Lower Saxony FDP leader Konstantin Kuhle to the news magazine Der Spiegel with a view to financial relief for agricultural diesel and vehicle tax for agricultural machinery. “People in rural areas rightly have no understanding of this,” said Kuhle. The SPD climate politician Nina Scheer said about plans not to promote the construction of solar factories as planned: “A loss of the domestic solar industry would be irresponsible.” This is the case “especially with regard to the labor market”. The new Juso leader Philipp Türmer also warned against making too many concessions to the Liberals out of fear of an end to the coalition. “The SPD and the Greens must not allow themselves to be blackmailed by the FDP,” Türmer told the magazine. “If the FDP actually leaves the coalition, then at this moment it is only sending itself to political death.”
Steinbrück: Double inheritance tax revenue for education
Former Federal Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) proposes massively increasing spending on education and financing the spending through a higher inheritance tax. Around 400 billion euros would be inherited every year. “Inheritance tax revenue is almost 9 billion euros. How about if, with a significant increase in allowances and a sensible solution for business assets, we increase inheritance tax revenue to 20 billion euros – and then put this additional revenue exclusively into education?” Steinbrück asked in an interview with Neue Westfälische. “Anyone who inherits large assets could help make this country fitter.” Steinbrück also proposed an eight-point plan to combat the crisis and called for a “courageous reform project” in the spirit of an Agenda 2030. He accused politicians of “a fear of description,” said Steinbrück: “It makes no sense to have a striped zebra Calling a horse to avoid conflict.”
Baden-Württemberg criticizes the federal government over the Germany ticket
The Baden-Württemberg Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) fears that the Germany Ticket will fail. “I’m simply very worried that something will go wrong. We have far too few resources and are taking on a lot. The states have only agreed to the Deutschlandticket experiment for good reason, because the federal government is covering half of the costs,” said Hermann from the news magazine Der Spiegel. He accused the federal government of “changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game.” According to Hermann, this is “not good style and creates a financing gap.” The background to this is a reduction in federal funding for regional passenger transport by 350 million euros announced by the Federal Ministry of Finance. When asked by the magazine, the federal government’s transport and finance departments emphasized that these funds had nothing to do with the Deutschlandticket. Hermann still saw this measure as a great danger. “The 350 million is probably exactly the amount that is left of the federal funds in 2023 and should be carried over to next year.” If they were to be cut, it would be “a great danger to the Germany ticket”.
Rating experts criticize Lindner’s focus on debt reduction
Experts contradict Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s (FDP) argument that Germany needs to reduce national debt as quickly as possible to maintain its triple-A rating. “What certainly shouldn’t be a concern is the level of debt in Germany,” says Moritz Kraemer, former chief analyst at the rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), to Spiegel. “A good analyst will recognize that we don’t have a financial problem, but a growth problem.” If Germany were to lose its top rating, it would be because of declining exports and the aging population. “It is not enough for a country to just have a low level of debt,” said Eiko Sievert, who is responsible for Germany’s rating at the Berlin-based agency Scope. “The growth potential is also important. And things are going downhill for Germany – also due to demographic change.”
Survey: FDP would create five percent hurdle
The FDP has improved slightly in the current ARD Germany trend and would be able to get back into the Bundestag. Accordingly, the Liberals achieved 5 percent, 1 percentage point more than in the survey from the beginning of December. If there were a federal election on Sunday, according to the “Germany trend”, the Union would be the strongest force for the second time in a row with 32 percent. The SPD would still receive 14 percent of the vote and would therefore be on a par with the Greens (minus 1). The AfD would still be the second strongest force with 21 percent, the Left would again get 3 percent and would therefore miss out on entering the Bundestag.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2023 07:15 ET (12:15 GMT)