After the "traffic light" exit

Standstill in Berlin: parliamentary sessions canceled

(Bild: APA/AFP/John MACDOUGALL)

The parties in the Bundestag were supposed to discuss the state budget for the coming year at the end of November. But on Friday, the SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU canceled the next week of meetings. After the end of the traffic light coalition, German domestic policy is at a standstill.

Due to the break-up of the coalition, there is no draft budget that can be approved by a majority, so a majority of MPs considered the meetings to be superfluous. "Without a budget, there is no need for a budget week, it's as simple as that," said FDP Parliamentary Secretary Johannes Vogel during the plenary debate. His SPD colleague Katja Mast spoke of a "special situation" following the loss of the government majority. "The SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU are in agreement: this budget week is not necessary," said Mast. There are still two full weeks of sessions scheduled for December in which the Bundestag can make upcoming decisions.

AfD: "Parliamentary work is being castrated"
AfD Parliamentary Secretary Bernd Baumann sharply criticized the cancellation of the budget week and spoke of an attempt to "shut down parliament". Addressing the SPD, CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP, he said: "In this way, you are reducing and castrating parliamentary work." Left-wing MP Christian Görke spoke of a "grand coalition of irresponsibility". 

Scholz: "Government continues to work"
Scholz wants to push through several projects before the new election. In his "Kanzler kompakt" video on the short message platform X, Scholz said on Friday: "The government is continuing to work. The Bundestag is also able to work. Of course, majorities must be found there for every law. But that shouldn't be impossible in our parliamentary democracy."

As examples, he cited a reduction in wage tax from January and the planned increase in child benefit. He also called for the Germany Ticket to continue to be financed. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag announced on Thursday that it would vote in favor of the necessary change to the law after Scholz called a vote of confidence and thus paved the way for a new election.

Finance Minister: No budget, but Ukraine aid secured
Interim Finance Minister Jörg Kukies (SPD) no longer expects a budget for 2025 to be passed, according to a report by "Spiegel Online". This means that all ministries will have to switch to provisional budget management from January. As part of this, the ministries will be allowed to spend one twelfth of the previous year's budget per month. However, Kukies assured that aid for Ukraine would continue to be secured.