Agency Report –
Berlin – Germany’s Greens are open to talks on a massive defence and infrastructure spending package, but are awaiting a negotiating offer from the political parties that put forward the proposal, Green leader Felix Banaszak said on Tuesday.
Last week, the centre-right bloc of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in alliance with their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) struck a deal to loosen Germany’s strict constitutional debt rules to spend €500 billion ($545 billion) on infrastructure and clear the way for a major long-term increase in military spending as well.
But support from the Greens, who were not part of the talks, is essential to pass the package through the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament. That’s because the measures require a two-thirds majority, since the debt rules are written into Germany’s Basic Law, or constitution.
Green lawmakers have complained that priorities like climate change aren’t addressed in the deal.
Greens have also raised concerns that preliminary coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD suggest the parties plan to use the debt-backed investment package to make room in the budget for campaign pledges like fuel subsidies for farmers and tax breaks for interest groups.
The CDU/CSU bloc, which placed first in February’s election, is widely expected to form the next government with the SPD as the junior partner. The Greens plan on going into the opposition.
There is pressure to push the spending plans through the lame-duck outgoing Bundestag in the coming days, since the results of February’s election mean that support from The Left party, from the hard left of German politics, would be needed to build the required majority.
Banaszak said during a Tuesday morning interview on broadcaster RTL/ntv that the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition talks are being negotiated under the assumption “that the Greens will first provide them with a lot of money.”
“That’s why I’m looking forward to what we’re being offered now,” he added.
Banaszak said that, from the point of view of the Greens, what is necessary is a fundamental reform of Germany’s strict balanced budget rules, known as the “debt brake,” rather than carving out special off-budget funds for the next government.
If the CDU/CSU and SPD don’t want to negotiate with the Greens now, they’re free to sound out The Left as well about a deal in the coming Bundestag, Banaszak said.
But he added that the Greens would remain open to approving more money just for defence in the outgoing Bundestag, since winning over The Left on military spending will be extremely difficult.
“If in doubt, we are available to do only what is urgent now,” said Banaszak.
Under the deal struck by the CDU/CSU and SPD, all military spending above 1% of Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) would not be counted as part of the budget.
The Greens have countered with an offer to exempt only spending above 1.5%, but also include spending on other defence-related programmes like peacekeeping, intelligence services and civilian support services for the military.
Thorsten Frei, an influential figure in the CDU/CSU, expressed openness to that proposal from the Greens in a Tuesday morning appearance on Deutschlandfunk public radio.
Covering a higher proportion of defence spending in the core budget is “basically conceivable,” Frei said. “In any case, it’s not the case that we’re miles apart, where it would be impossible to come together.”
By Niklas Graeber
