Dispute over federal budget reveals tense financial situation

Berlin Politics is never as concrete as it is in the hours when the Federal Ministry of Finance introduces the federal budget, as it did last Tuesday. All the political ideas, demands and compromise formulas can be read in black and white on the 3289-page budget.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz accused the government of failing in a dramatic situation, saying that the relief plans for citizens and business were a “hodgepodge of compromises at the level of the lowest common denominator”.

Chief housekeeper Dennis Rohde defended the budget for the SPD against this criticism from the opposition. Rohde believes that it is urgently necessary for the government to exhaust the debt leeway and provide another 65 billion euros in relief for the citizens. In the financial crisis of 2008, “a strong state helped us out of the crisis,” said the SPD politician, just like in the corona crisis of 2020. The lesson: “We now need a strong state again that won’t leave the citizens alone.”