The fact that the Federal Minister of Finance is in a difficult situation is something he himself is partly responsible for.
(Photo: Reuters)
The Federal Minister of Finance recently introduced himself in Brussels as a “friendly hawk”. This was well received by his international colleagues. However, if Christian Lindner also wants to be successful as a financial hawk, he will not get very far with friendliness alone. Neither in Brussels nor at home. Now is the right time to send out a stability policy signal.
Because the demands of the traffic light ministers for additional spending are astronomical – and present Lindner with his first major test. If he doesn’t pass, he is threatened, like many other finance ministers in the past, with a loss of authority. The Social Democratic Finance Minister Hans Eichel has shown how this can end. “Hans, let it go,” said his superior at the time, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, in his smug way: Hans was done. Something similar could happen to Lindner if he doesn’t take action now.
Because the wishes that the federal ministers conveyed in the budget negotiations are almost an affront. The ministers not only ignored Lindner’s austerity appeal, but counteracted it with their three-digit billion demands.
But the budget negotiations reveal more than the usual intrigues between finance ministers and cabinet colleagues. They show the spirit of the traffic light ministers and the spirit in which the traffic light coalition as a whole is on the move.
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Even if the SPD, the Greens and the FDP have anchored the goal of solid state finances in euphonious words in the coalition agreement, and even supposedly want to make savings – in reality there is no sign of this so far.
Difficult situation for Lindner
All ministers, regardless of their color, do not want to save a single cent, but rather spend as many euros as possible. That puts Lindner in trouble. And that he is in this difficult situation, he is also responsible for himself.
(Photo: Frank Hoppmann)
It was a mistake not to have set clear priorities in the coalition agreement. Because now Lindner has to tie down the priorities of the traffic light government with Habeck and Scholz during operation. And that in a political climate that is not on his side.
The attitude of Germans, internationally known as fiscally conservative, towards debt has also changed in the meantime. Government debt is no longer considered to be as threatening as it used to be, on the contrary: there is now a consensus that more debt should be incurred for investments.
With the climate crisis, there is now a crisis of the century in which, according to environmental movements, everyone who dares to ask about the costs belongs on the political scaffold.
There is also a third factor: money was available in abundance for many years. First the economy grew ten years in a row, then the financial aspect played no role in the fight against the pandemic. This style of nimble money distribution has passed into the bones of an entire generation of politicians.
Budget planning for post-corona era
Lindner, however, has to draw up a budget for the post-corona era, in which on the one hand money is significantly tighter than in the past twelve years, and on the other hand the FDP and Lindner personally want to ensure that the new economic zeitgeist does not also happen the debt brake tears away.
Lindner is also under pressure to deliver because he has already allowed himself a regulatory dropout. The controversial parking of unused corona debts in a climate reserve was the toad that the liberals had to swallow in the coalition negotiations.
If Lindner were to tear down the self-imposed debt ceiling for this year, contrary to promises to the contrary, because he can’t get his spending requests under control, that would do serious damage to his reputation before he even really got started in office.
More: The traffic light’s wish list goes beyond any framework