The FDP leader and the chairman of the Greens are both interested in the post of Federal Minister of Finance.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Before the coalition negotiations begin, the FDP and the Greens are already struggling for the post of Federal Minister of Finance. While the SPD with Olaf Scholz has been appointed to the Chancellery, it is still unclear which of the two smaller coalition partners will occupy the second most important ministerial office. Both Christian Lindner and Robert Habeck have filed claims.
This will be one of the trickier topics for the upcoming coalition negotiations. The Federal Ministry of Finance has been fiercely contested for a long time. The Union has hurt the renunciation of this in the past grand coalition. Ultimately, it was also a building block for Olaf Scholz’s success in this election.
The treasurer can have a say in almost every decision made by the federal government. This not only gives him power within the coalition, but also offers the opportunity to raise his profile in the public eye. Scholz used that. Habeck and the Greens would like that too. After things didn’t work out with the Chancellery, a department like the Ministry of Finance would be a consolation – and possibly a chance to secure a good starting point for the next election.
And yet there is much to suggest that the next finance minister will be Lindner, and not Habeck. The difference in the election results is too small to justify an incontrovertible claim by the Greens to the second most important department. The allocation of items is not only based on percentage points.
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Even the SPD was able to win a lot for itself in the past government with the Foreign, Labor and Finance Ministry despite its electoral defeat. The Union had to make concessions so that the Social Democrats would once again get involved in the grand coalition. It is similar now with the traffic light alliance and the FDP.
The FDP has bitterly regretted the waiver
Without the Treasury, it is difficult for liberals to enter government. First of all, in the black-yellow coalition they have bitterly regretted giving up the department. Lindner will not want to repeat the mistake. And secondly, financial policy is part of the FDP’s brand essence and was the main topic of its election campaign.
This is different from the Greens. You have declared the federal election to be a climate election. In this respect, they can now hardly prefer the finance department to a possible climate protection ministry. That is also the reason why Lindner is now campaigning for the creation of such a department. A green climate protection minister would most likely mean that there is an FDP finance minister in the next cabinet.
More: Financing investments and pensions: Sharp criticism from top economists of the traffic light negotiators