Finance tussle splits German coalition parties
THE first splits began to emerge in Germany’s coalition talks over the weekend as squabbling erupted over who will get the coveted finance ministry.
Up until now, the parties have batted back all questions about ministerial posts, saying that these would only be decided at the end of negotiations with the Social Democrat Party, which narrowly won last month’s election but did not secure a majority.
But over the weekend, it became clear that the two smaller parties in the talks, the Greens and FDP, both have their eyes on the most powerful ministerial post after the chancellor.
FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki said in a radio interview that only his party, which leans right on tax issues, could be trusted to look after the exchequer if the coalition pursues its ambitious agenda for “a decade of modernisation” that would accelerate investment in green technologies and overhaul an aged bureaucracy.
“Anyone who doubts that we can do all this without raising taxes or incurring new debt should want Christian Lindner as finance minister to make sure it works. Otherwise, the FDP will end up being pied in the face.”
Under Mr Lindner, the FDP has secured a commitment from the other parties not to raise taxes or relax Germany’s strict public debt rules. In response, several senior figures from the Green party fired back that their candidate should be picked. “I can’t think of anyone better than Robert Habeck for the job of finance minister,” wrote Danyal Bayaz, a Green member of the state government in Baden-württemberg.
Rasmus Andresen, a Green MEP, said that Mr Habeck was better suited to the job as someone who would “overcome social divisions”
Mr Linder tried to calm tensions yesterday, telling the Bild newspaper that “we haven’t started discussing ministries”.
Top economists have commented that the preliminary agreement between the parties is vague on particulars about how projects such as investing in electric infrastructure for transport will be financed.
The Green party yesterday voted to begin official three-way negotiations with the SPD and FPD. The FDP is the only one yet to give a formal go-ahead.