Latest news with #KatharinaDröge
Local Germany
13-03-2025
- Business
- Local Germany
German MPs to begin debating Merz's spending plans
Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his centre-right CDU/CSU bloc and the centre-left SPD would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. The two parties are currently in talks to form a coalition after February's elections. Fraying Europe-US ties under President Donald Trump have fuelled calls for Germany to quickly boost military funding and reduce its dependency on the US security umbrella, while infrastructure spending is seen as a route to pull Europe's top economy out of stagnation. Vowing to do "whatever it takes", Merz has proposed exempting defence spending from the country's strict debt rules when it exceeds one percent of GDP and setting up a €500 billion fund for infrastructure investments. While the plans have won praise from German allies abroad, who grew weary of inaction under outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Merz faces a desperate scramble to push them through parliament. As the measures involve a change to the constitutionally enshrined "debt brake", which limits government borrowing, they require a two-thirds majority in parliament. This means that the CDU/CSU and SPD want to get them passed before a new parliament convenes later this month in which far-right and far-left parties, who have expressed scepticism about extra defence spending, will be in a position to block the measures. Greens unhappy Debates begin in the Bundestag on Thursday, with a vote on the proposals due on Tuesday next week. But Merz's task got trickier after the Green party, whose votes are needed to reach the two-thirds mark, threatened to torpedo the plans. Although the Greens were in favour of a reform of the "debt brake", the changes proposed by Merz were not the ones needed, Green leader in the Bundestag, Katharina Dröge, told reporters on Monday. Merz and his partners from the SPD were creating a "treasure chest" to fund their political priorities, including tax cuts, Dröge said. Greens MPs Katharina Dröge, Britta Haßelmann, Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak leave a press conference before the start of the parliamentary group meeting in the Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler "Whoever wants our approval for more investment must also show that it is really about more investment in climate protection, more investment in the economy in this country." The CDU has sought to appease the Greens, saying their concerns are "completely legitimate", and the two sides have been holding talks this week. Merz's plans also face another threat with both the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the far-left Die Linke party having filed legal challenges at the constitutional court, arguing there will be insufficient time for consultations. The AfD won its best ever showing at last month's election, coming second with almost 21 percent of the vote, while Die Linke are set to enter the next parliament after a surprisingly good result. Calls for swift action If Merz fails to get his plans through, observers fear he would lose momentum and his future government could face the same paralysis that beset Scholz's ill-fated, three-party coalition, whose November collapse precipitated last month's vote. The pressure has only increased on Merz in recent weeks as Trump has become increasingly hostile towards Ukraine and made overtures to Russia. The incoming government would still have options to boost spending if the current parliament fails to pass the plans next week, analysts said. Once Merz becomes chancellor -- which could be in late April -- he could suspend the debt brake by invoking an emergency, as the previous government did during the pandemic, according to Berenberg bank economist Holger Schmieding. While it would only be a stopgap, "it would give a new German government time to temporarily raise defence and infrastructure spending while trying to garner a two-thirds majority for a permanent change to the debt brake," he said.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's massive spending deal in doubt as Greens reject plan
A massive plan to loosen Germany's debt rules and spend hundreds of billions on defence and infrastructure has run into potentially decisive opposition from the Greens, whose votes in parliament would be essential for the legislation to be approved. The spending deal was struck by the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc, which won February's German election, and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are expected to become the junior coalition partner in the next government. Green politicians have been warning for days that the massive spending deal does not do nearly enough to address climate change and might be used as a way to finance tax cuts instead of dramatically higher overall spending. Green parliamentary group co-chairwomen Katharina Dröge and Britta Hasselmann confirmed on Monday that they would recommend that Green lawmakers vote against the package. "We are in no way interested in enabling play money, and that is why we will not agree to these proposals," Dröge told reporters. "The package will not finance a single euro more in investments in Germany." Dröge said that the CDU/CSU alliance and the SPD wanted to create a massive fund of borrowed money to put towards things like tax breaks and diesel fuel subsidies for farmers. The Greens have been demanding more funding for climate priorities and greater commitments about how the money would be spent. A failure of the spending deal would be a major setback for the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition talks, which are set to formally get under way soon. Any budget agreement between the two parties would be far more difficult without the deal. Senior CDU/CSU and SPD politicians on Monday expressed confidence that a compromise could still be struck to placate the Greens and get the deal through the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. The votes of the Greens are essential to enacting the deal, since Germany's strict balanced-budget rules are anchored in the country's constitution and any changes require a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag. Greens to be persuaded? The deal between the CDU/CSU and SPD would create a €500 billion ($542 billion) special fund for infrastructure investments to be spent over the next decade, and enable far higher long-term military budgets by permanently exempting any defence spending above 1% of German gross domestic product (GDP) from counting toward debt rules. Not long after Dröge and Hasselmann made their opposition clear, leaders in the CDU, CSU and SPD signalled their willingness to negotiate with the Greens in order to seal a deal. Carsten Linnemann, the secretary general of the CDU, said he expects negotiations over the deal to move forward with the Greens and described ideas put forward by the Greens as "constructive proposals." CSU deputy leader Alexander Dobrindt, meanwhile, believes the Greens will eventually back down and support the plans. "This will not be the last word from the Greens," he said. "The security situation requires a different approach. We are prepared to negotiate further." SPD leader Lars Klingbeil likewise said he expects to find a compromise with the Greens despite their initial rejection of the deal. "I am not giving up confidence that this can succeed," he said. Klingbeil said he would seek talks with top Green Party politicians on Monday evening along with conservative leader and prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz. The parties are hoping to pass the changes through the outgoing Bundestag in the coming days, since the results of Germany's February election mean that assembling the necessary two-thirds majority will become more difficult once newly elected lawmakers are seated. A deal would then need to be struck with The Left, a hard-left socialist party that has been vehemently opposed to military spending. That would be far more difficult, especially for the conservative CDU/CSU. Leaders of The Left on Monday announced that they had filed an emergency application with Germany's Constitutional Court for a temporary restraining order to block a possible vote on the proposal, which they described as an undemocratic attempt to cast aside the will of German voters. Politicians with The Left said they have long demanded major reforms to Germany's debt rules, and urged the other parties to invite them to talks on spending plans. But Linnemann said he does not believe that the CDU/CSU could reach an acceptable compromise with The Left.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's Greens threaten to torpedo massive debt spending deal
A massive plan to loosen Germany's debt rules and spend hundreds of billions on defence and infrastructure has run into potentially decisive opposition from the Greens, whose votes in parliament would be essential for passage. Green politicians have been warning for days that the massive spending deal doesn't do nearly enough to address climate change and might be used as a way to finance tax cuts instead of dramatically higher overall spending. Green parliamentary group co-chairwomen Katharina Dröge and Britta Hasselmann said on Monday that they would recommend that Green lawmakers vote against the package. Dröge said that the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the centre-left Social Democrats wanted to create a massive fund of borrowed money to put towards things like tax breaks and diesel fuel subsidies for farmers. The Greens have been demanding more funding for climate priorities and greater commitments about how the money would be spent. The spending deal was struck by the CDU/CSU, which won February's German election, and the SPD, who are expected to become the junior coalition partners in the next government. But the votes of the Greens are essential to enacting the deal, since Germany's strict balanced-budget rules are anchored in the country's constitution and any changes require a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament. The deal between the CDU/CSU and SPD would create a €500 billion ($542 billion) special fund for infrastructure investments to be spent over the next decade, and enable far higher long-term military budgets by permanently exempt any defence spending above 1% of German gross domestic product (GDP) from counting toward the debt rules.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Greens demand immediate €3 billion aid package for Ukraine
The outgoing German government must immediately release billions in aid for Ukraine, the Greens demanded on Tuesday. "Following the scandal in the White House and the reported announcement by the United States that it will freeze support for Ukraine, rapid aid from Europe is more urgent than ever," wrote the leaders of the party's parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge and Britta Hasselmann. The pair were referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky being given a dressing down in front of the cameras in Washington last week by US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Reports say Trump has now suspended aid. In the letter to the departing Chancellor Olaf Scholz seen by dpa, the politicians urged Scholz to allow €3 billion ($3.2 billion) in aid to be transferred as soon as possible to Kiev as "concrete support for Ukraine's battle for freedom and a message of solidary and European strength." The €3 billion package became a major issue in Germany's election campaign earlier this year, with Scholz refusing to release the aid due to what he called budgetary constraints. Scholz's Social Democrats are now holding exploratory talks with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union over the formation of a coalition, with the CDU's Friedrich Merz as chancellor. Negotiations are focusing on how to finance a massive increase in military spending amid the dramatic shift in US foreign policy. However, Hasselmann said that the package of aid for Kiev should be passed as soon as possible, by calling a special session of the parliamentary budgetary committee. "Europe must act decisively. Germany must act," she added. "It is our responsibility to secure peace here in Europe."
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Greens relieved after controversial migration bill rejected
Germany's Greens have expressed relief after a controversial bill to tighten migration policy tabled by the opposition centre-right CDU/CSU bloc failed to garner a majority in parliament. The co-leader of the Greens' parliamentary group Britta Hasselmann called the result good news after a very difficult day in parliament. At the same time, she said, events in recent days showed "large cracks" had become visible in the democratic centre. "Nobody can be happy about that." She was referring to the fact that the conservatives had been willing to rely on votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass the bill. Had they succeeded, that would have been a historic first, as all of Germany's mainstream parties have ruled out cooperating with the anti-immigration AfD, which is being monitored as a suspected right-wing extremist party by domestic intelligence. The other parliamentary group co-leader Katharina Dröge accused the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, of blackmailing the other parties to push through the vote. The conservatives, she said, had acted according to the motto: "Agree, otherwise we will vote with the Nazis." "You can already see how destructive it is for parliamentary democracy when democratic forces start forming alliances with the far right," she added.
