Red Alert: Emergency Meeting Looms Over Traffic Light Crisis

Does the traffic light stop? The FDP gives a clear warning. Vice-Chancellor Habeck appeals to his colleagues. All developments in the news blog.

1:40 p.m: An internal SPD paper, which, according to t-line information, was written by employees of the AG Economy, suddenly rejected the economic plans of Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). Lindner’s proposals contradict “the SPD’s long-standing position of economic growth not for the sake of growth, but as a basis for social progress,” the newspaper “Bild” quotes from the document.

In addition, several non-negotiable points from the SPD’s point of view were mentioned, such as citizens’ benefits and pensions: “Overtime and cuts in social security should be a red line for the SPD” (sic ), quotes “picture” from the paper. Last Friday, FDP leader Lindner distributed a paper in which he called for a radical reversal in economic policy and questioned his own traffic light policy.

1:00 pm: The leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, sees Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) as the party in the traffic light dispute. Dürr said on Tuesday in the Bundestag before the meeting of the Liberal parliamentary group that it is logical that the Intel billions go back to the budget. “I am glad that Robert Habeck has also come to this conclusion. In this situation, I would like to see significant ideas from the Minister of Economy to strengthen our growth. We need a real economic change.” Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) made suggestions on this. The coalition does not necessarily have to agree on “any papers”, but rather present concepts that work. “Major reforms also require great strength. The question is whether the traffic lights are ready to gather this strength. The FDP is ready to gather this strength.” So far, much has gone in the right direction, it is not enough. Dürr was optimistic about the budget: “It can be done if the will is there.”

12:57 p.m.: The leader of the green parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, has spoken clearly against a possible minority government between the SPD and the Greens if the FDP leaves the traffic lights. “We want a coalition that has a majority in the German Bundestag,” Dröge said at a press conference. “Everything else makes no sense.” SPD co-leader Saskia Esken described a minority government as a possibility on Tuesday.

Dröge clearly criticized the chaos at the traffic lights and called for a compromise. “Now is not the time to outdo each other with the most radical demands.” She has no understanding of the FDP leader’s position paper, which is written like this: “Hahaha, I will write what angers my coalition partners the most. And look how cool my provocations are.”

The priority now is to draw up a budget. We need common solutions. To this end, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) took a step towards the partners with the Intel billions released for consolidation. “Now I expect the other two coalition partners to make suggestions as well.”

12:46 pm: The main meetings of the traffic light coalition on economic and financial policy will continue on Wednesday. Two more meetings between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) are planned, as t-online learned on Monday. It is planned to hold a meeting of the coalition committee on Wednesday night.

10:57 am: At 8 am, Olaf Scholz, Christian Lindner and Robert Habeck met in the Chancellor to discuss the future of the traffic light coalition. The coalition committee meets in larger groups on Wednesday. The FDP has already stated that an end to the coalition cannot then be ruled out. According to “Bild”, the meeting ended around 10 am