the German Christian Lindner pleads for budgetary rigor

Published on : 18/01/2022 – 17:56

How to get out of the Covid-19 pandemic from above and allow the economy to rebound sustainably? France and other European countries plead for a reform of the current criteria while the German Minister of Finance Christian Lindner pleaded for the maintenance of the already existing rules.

With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibault

While France, like other countries, pleads for a reform of the criteria put in place, in particular the fact that the debt of the States must be limited to 60% of the gross domestic product and the budget deficit remain below the bar of 3 %. The fear is that the return next year to these rules will disrupt growth. When Monday meeting in Brussels finance ministers, the great German treasurer Christian Lindner pleaded for the maintenance of these rules.

Flexibility, rigidity: it is between these two poles that the new German Finance Minister Christian Lindner evolves. Coming from a country where the stability of public finances is part of the DNA, he remains faithful by his plea on Monday in Brussels for budgetary rigor to the principles defended in the past by Christian Democrats like Angela Merkel or Wolfgang Schäuble , but also the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Olaf Scholz also declared on Monday to Madrid : « Europe must continue to walk together in the years to come and we will achieve this on the basis of our Stability and Growth Pact. »

Resistance within the Liberal Party itself

The new German finance minister must also take into account the resistance within his liberal party where a questioning of the current rules and common debts in Europe remain a taboo.

Christian Lindner has dampened the hopes of some by considering that a modification of the current criteria was not realistic, as this would imply a modification of the Maastricht Treaty. However, rules without being changed can be relaxed and interpreted. In the coalition contract between the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals, one can read: The Stability and Growth Pact has demonstrated its flexibility. »

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