The savings targets of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) for the federal ministries in the budget for the coming year are met with resistance from the left and the Greens. “Lindner’s cuts are fatal, they will increase fears of relegation, increase poverty and exacerbate social inequality,” said Linken co-boss Janine Wissler to the AFP news agency on Wednesday. The Greens also criticized Lindner’s austerity measures.
Government course under criticism: arguments about austerity measures and austerity policies flare up within the coalition
“The government must end its dangerous course as quickly as possible,” Wissler said. “Anyone who saves in an economic crisis exacerbates the crisis.” With his “dictated austerity measures”, Lindner is forcing society to adopt a policy of cuts that is unacceptable. “The current savings projects are carried out on the backs of the poorest and the environment,” criticized the left-co-boss. What is needed instead is a reintroduction of wealth tax and an income-related inflation allowance for people with lower and middle incomes.
Lindner’s specifications are also met with resistance within the traffic light coalition. “In the end, a federal budget needs the approval of the entire cabinet,” said the Green budget expert Sven-Christian Kindler of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. (RP-Online: 06.06.23). “What is now necessary is a joint content-related coordination process for the federal budget, which can be approved by all three coalition partners.”
Greens outraged: Bundeswehr special fund excluded – waste of money and cuts in social areas?
The Minister of Finance had given the individual federal departments spending limits and asked them to submit proposals for savings; he had only exempted the Ministry of Defense from this. According to Kindler, the Greens do not want to accept this procedure. “To exclude the defense department as a whole makes no sense,” he said. “Here there are demonstrably significant inefficiencies in procurement for the Bundeswehr that have not yet been eliminated.” Kindler criticized: “There is always too much money seeping away.”
In addition, the majority of the 100 billion euros in the Bundeswehr special fund has not yet been firmly planned. “We should not make cuts at the expense of programs for the participation of children and young people, for rural development, for culture or for initiatives against right-wing extremism,” demanded the budget spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag. Anyone who cuts corners here “weakens our democracy and the cohesion in our society in these crisis-ridden times,” he warned.
Instead, Kindler called for cuts in environmentally harmful subsidies and named the tax privilege for company cars. When reducing subsidies that are harmful to the environment and climate, “large billions can be fetched”.
The budget for next year has been causing unrest in the coalition for months. Several ministries reported some additional needs. However, since Lindner rules out both a renewed exemption from the debt brake and tax increases, there is practically no leeway for this. The budget is to be passed in the cabinet before the summer break, but Lindner has not yet given an exact date for this.
AFP + Blackout-News
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