Presented their agreement for the 2025 federal budget: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, lr), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) / image alliance, Kay Nietfeld
Berlin – After marathon negotiations last night, members of the traffic light coalition reached an agreement in principle on a federal budget for 2025.
Today, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) hit back at speculation about a possible coalition split, which has become increasingly loud in recent days: “Losing courage, giving up, shirking responsibility – as Chancellor, I would not understand that at all.” Germany must be an anchor of stability in Europe during this period.
According to Lindner, Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) met 23 times to discuss the budget. It took until about 5 a.m. to plan the federal government’s spending for the coming year. The budget still has to be approved by the cabinet and discussed in the Bundestag.
The FDP prevailed on the debt brake. The agreement on the budget and the financial plan until 2028 stipulates that these must be adhered to. An emergency situation should therefore not be determined. Next year, the government is planning new debts worth 44 billion euros – as part of the debt brake, as Lindner assured. Expenditure of 481 billion euros is planned, of which 57 billion euros are investments.
In order to reduce the pressure on departments to make savings, the traffic light coalition has found ways to gain additional leeway. In government circles, for example, a “more realistic estimate” of EU contributions has been mentioned. In addition, there are, for example, lower interest payments and reserves for individual budget items that can be deferred. The coalition also speaks of a so-called overall underspending. These are unspecified savings targets. The coalition is betting that departments will need less money.
But the coalition said that this was “in no way” an austerity budget. Every corner of the budget where spending could have been cut has been turned over. A supplementary budget of eleven billion euros is planned for this year. In 2024, net borrowing under the debt brake will rise to 50.5 billion euros.
There was already a concrete agreement according to a political document that… German medical journal exists, with the immediate family allowance for needy families in the citizen’s allowance and with the child tax allowance.
As the newspaper reports, this amount is set to increase by 228 euros to 9,540 euros this year. Next year it will increase by a further 60 euros to 9,600 euros. The subsidy is deducted from taxable income and therefore has a tax-reducing effect for families.
Although nursing care insurance and statutory health insurance suffer under the financial burden, neither plays a role in the article. It is mainly about external and internal security, growth packages for the economy, child benefits, pensions, climate and housing shortages. Other priorities that the traffic light wants to set with its agreement on the budget and growth package: red tape relief, tax exemption for overtime, special depreciation for commercially used electric cars.
The cabinet is expected to approve the draft budget in mid-July. Only then will the many details about the individual departments be available. The first consultation in the Bundestag is scheduled for mid-September and the budget is then expected to be decided in November or December of this year. © may/dpa/aerzteblatt.de