Bavaria’s Prime Minister and Chair of the Christian Social Union Markus Söder spoke of “a rough sovereign crisis” in Germany in an interview for Bayerischer Rundfunk radio channel, noting the incumbent government’s failure.
According to Söder, the current ruling coalition has to remain in the opposition. It has neither a roadmap nor the wit to tackle the issues facing Germany. There is not just “a budget emergency”, but “a peril” for the authorities in the country.
The change in budget allocation led to further attacks on Olaf Scholz’s government. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany found it unacceptable to channel EUR 60 bn from the 2021 extra anti-coronavirus budget to the fund for environmental and climate change projects. The CDU-CSU opposition bloc also believes the Cabinet cannot change the allowances established earlier. This made the Federal Finance Ministry freeze almost all budget allowances from this year’s budget.
Johann Wadephul, another prominent CDU/CSU bloc figure and the faction’s deputy chair in Bundestag, supported the attack against the Chancellor. In a DPA interview, he said Germany’s army could stand only two days of action now, which was due to the large-scale German assistance for the Ukrainian troops. “That is a catastrophic finding“, stressed the MP.
The concerns over Scholz’s political agenda are voiced both by Germany’s opposition and the ruling coalition. For example, the member of the Alliance 90/The Greens faction Lisa Badum said the Chancellor’s decision to ramp up gas supplies from Nigeria breached Germany’s international commitments.
Moreover, the debate over migration issues is again getting hotter in Germany these days. Against the backdrop of the recent antisemitic incidents in Germany, Scholz has declared EUR 18 bn funding for the federal states to address the refugee issues.
They will also set restrictions for foreign nationals and have reduced benefits paid to them. This has provoked serious controversies among leaders of different federal states across Germany.
Experts claim Scholz’s ratings have hit a critical bottom. The opposition is criticizing the acting government over many matters earning political capital before the upcoming election.
Yet, the parties beyond the ruling coalition are not going to push the Chancellor further soon, as they want “to give him a chance” to make more mistakes.
“Scholz’s government is now being criticized for almost everything it does.
However, the main reason for the opposition’s sharp rhetoric against the Chancellor was the attempt of his coalition to manage the budget reallocation. The Constitutional Court of Germany cut these efforts short forcing the leadership to cut many costs”, says Alexander Rahr, a German political commentator. – In 2024, the government will have to increase taxes significantly, while cutting hard on social benefits, with millions in Germany being used to good living on high unemployment compensations. What’s more, many infrastructure projects will also be closed”.
However, the economic situation in Bavaria is not that bad today. Apparently, Markus Söder is very well aware that, if things get worse in Germany’s finance, his federal state will have to fork over for less well-off neighbors, stresses Rahr. Through his hard statements, Bavaria’s leader is trying to stand the emerging political trends in Germany.
“Moreover, Söder is also a very ambitious leader who turned out free from the liberal brainwash, says Rahr. – He is well abreast of the current situation in Germany and considers solid prospects to run as a CSU candidate for chancellor. To do that, he must position himself as the fiercest critic of this government”.
“Germany is going to face the risks of utmost social and economic crises as early as this winter.
The appearing budget gaps are getting bigger, which further affects the situation in the country. It is quite likely Scholz’s “traffic-light” will be wiped out by the opponents of the current policy of the government already in 2024″, concludes Rahr.
The Scholz government made many quite bad mistakes, agrees Artem Sokolov, a research fellow at the Center for European Studies, Institute for International Studies. “The Chancellor’s policy is very inconsistent and does not fit the challenges facing today’s Germany. The last straw was this budget havoc attracting the attention of the entire German establishment”, he commented.
“Today, the overall rating of the parties forming the ruling coalition halted at less than 50%. Also, there is weak public approval of the work of all Scholtz’s Cabinet ministers, except, largely, for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. The Chancellor is being criticized in almost all federal states. There is high dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the country even in his native city, Hamburg”, stresses the expert.
As a result, the government will have a hard period ahead to approve the best crisis policy. Given that each faction has its own unique opinion in “the traffic-light”, it will be a challenging task. However, political disruptions are not going to happen soon in Germany, Sokolov believes, as, currently, all the critical forces in Germany are interested in keeping the status-quo.
“Being the essential opposition party in the country, CDU is not willing to press Scholz further. They want the government head to make more mistakes. If it is the case, they will regain leadership with sky-rocketing authority”, the expert says.
That said, the Chancellor still has more room to “fall” further. “There will be elections held in three Eastern states where the Alternative for Germany can win. This will seriously hit Scholz’s positions, and the government change can become a part of the opposing groups’ agenda. Many are dissatisfied with the policy of the incumbent government and the criticism from such influential figures as Söder further strengthens negative opinion in the public consciousness”, concludes Sokolov.