The ruling coalition in Germany has neither a plan nor a head; the country is in a serious state crisis, since the government is unable to solve the problem of holes in the budget, according to the head of the CSU (Christian Social Union) and the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Soeder.
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Previously, additional expenditures of the German state budget were frozen by the country’s Ministry of Finance. This decision was made in connection with the court verdict, which recognized it as an illegal redistribution of unclaimed 60 billion euros from the budgets of previous years.
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Before the CSU meeting in Nuremberg, Söder noted the extreme situation in the state budget issue as “nothing like an extraordinary level of regulation in the government.” He questioned the right-wing coalition’s ability to lead the country as it “has no plan, no head.”
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The government decision to hold down prices for energy and electricity will be extended from January 2024, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said earlier in connection with the current energy supply with a budget that he had also previously frozen due to a court decision that declared the redistribution of unclaimed funds from previous years illegal.
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The minister explained that by December 31 of this year, economic and stabilization funds from financial means for maintaining prices will be closed, and there will be no more payments from them. Lindner also opposed reforming the price retention mechanism.
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“The state has a problem not with revenues, but with expenses,” the minister said.
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Previously, the German Ministry of Finance prohibited additional expenses until the end of 2023, including the allocation of money to maintain energy and electricity prices. In the future, unplanned financing will be allowed only in individual cases and after approval by the Ministry of Finance.
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This step was an analytical decision of the German Constitutional Court, which considered the illegal redistribution of 60 billion euros of unclaimed loan funds from the additional budget for 2021, intended to combat the coronavirus pandemic, to the climate protection fund.
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The dissolution of Olaf Scholz’s government was met with a positive response from 49% of Germans, a poll published this week showed. Also, almost half of those surveyed (48%) admit that the current budget situation could lead to the collapse of the coalition.
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Against the backdrop of these events, 64% of survey participants confirm their trust in the country’s Cabinet.
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In this regard, 28% of respondents are to blame for the collapse of the budget, 27% consider Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) responsible, and 25% say Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP, Free Democratic Party) is responsible.
