The FDP has been calling for an economic turnaround for a long time, and now it wants to present a twelve-point plan. Significant cuts for citizens are also planned.
The FDP repeatedly criticizes the current economic situation in Germany, and the party has now developed a twelve-point plan with which it wants to promote an economic turnaround. Among other things, this involves tougher penalties for social benefits and the abolition of pensions at 63. The paper is available on t-online. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported on it.
So far it is a draft. The presidium is scheduled to discuss the proposed resolution on Monday in order to submit the plan to the party conference next weekend.
FDP focuses on social benefits and pensions
The FDP wants to focus primarily on social benefits. Citizens’ benefits should be immediately reduced by 30 percent if work is rejected for no reason. But it shouldn’t stay that way. The FDP wants to use the scope for stricter sanctions, “up to and including a complete cancellation of benefits,” according to the draft. In addition, the FDP probably wants to freeze social benefits for the next three years; there should be no increase in benefits.
The FDP also wants to focus on pensions. The pension at 63 should therefore be abolished, and the employer contribution to unemployment insurance based on the standard working limit should also be eliminated. The aim is to encourage people to work longer as they get older. “Anyone who still wants to work at 72 should be able to do so under attractive conditions,” the paper says.
Söder sees traffic lights before break
In addition, wind turbines and solar systems should no longer be subsidized by the state and the EEG levy should be abolished. The FDP also wants to suspend the German supply chain law.
The Union suspects a break in the traffic light coalition behind the paper. “This is nothing more than a divorce certificate for the traffic lights!” said the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU chairman Markus Söder to the “Bild” newspaper. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnenmann said the paper read like “Lambsdorff 2.0.” In 1982, a strategy paper by the then FDP Economics Minister Otto Graf Lambsdorff initiated the break between the coalition and the SPD. Linnemann is of the opinion that the new paper contains some points that could be implemented in a black-yellow coalition.
Klingbeil and Mützenich refuse
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has criticized the FDP proposals. “It’s right that we have to do something to stimulate the economy, secure jobs here in the country and create new ones. We in the government share responsibility for this. But if the FDP believes that the economy is doing better, if If craftsmen, nurses or educators are worse off, then they are making a huge mistake,” Klingbeil told Bild on Sunday.
The SPD leader continued: “We will not allow politics to be made on the backs of those who work hard and keep the country running. Anyone who has toiled for 45 years in hospitals, daycare centers or in construction for our country has a The right to a pension without deductions remains.
The SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had previously made similar statements. “The FDP’s proposals are a remnant of a mothball and not up to date,” Mützenich told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Sunday. “The FDP’s contribution has nothing to do with economic policy competence, but rather with further burdens for the working population. We will not do anything that weakens employees and undermines the social ideas of the Basic Law.”
“Document of Social Cruelty”
The FDP deputy leader Johannes Vogel warned on Sunday, in view of Mützenich’s statements, that the “current weakness of Germany as a business location also endangers the strong welfare state in this country. “All coalition partners must have a common interest in achieving the economic turnaround,” Vogel told the dpa. This includes easing the tax burden on citizens, but also creating “fair performance” when receiving basic security.
Unlike the SPD, the Greens initially did not want to comment on the Liberals’ proposals when asked on Sunday. There was sharp criticism from the Left Party. Chairman Martin Schirdewan called the FDP paper “a document of social cruelty.” What is now needed is “no neoliberal role backwards, but finally a turning point for social justice,” Schirdewan told the dpa.
