He described the reception as inevitable austerity measures to cover the huge gaps in the budget, the Minister of Finance of Germany, Christian Lindner, in an interview he gave on Saturday to the newspaper Rheinische Post
The leader of the Liberal Democrats (FDP) said the federal government must be ready for spending cuts and other unpleasant decisions. “Each allocation of funds must be discussed and justified”Lindner added.
The three-party governing coalition (SPD, Greens, FDP) has delayed drawing up the 2024 budget due to internal disputes. The draft budget must be approved by the cabinet by June 21 and voted on by the federal parliament in December.
Describing the extent of the problem, Lindner said: “With today’s data, we will have a deficit of 14-18 billion euros next year, with revenues of around 424 billion. In order to cover this hole in the budget, sacrifices will have to be made.”
Germany’s finance minister noted that the impact of potential public sector wage increases must be considered, amid public sector strikes across the country.
He criticized the previous Conservative-led governments that in recent years they approved “social benefits and subsidies that were not financed in a sustainable way”. Abnormally low interest rates masked that fact, he argued.
The representative of K.O. of the Social Democrats (SPD) on budget matters, Denis Rode, commented to the German News Agency (dpa) that “the final decision on the money spent on Germany it belongs to the federal parliament (Bundestag) and not to the finance minister”, expressing the belief that the golden ratio will be found in the disagreements that exist on fiscal policy.
Source: News Beast
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