Howling and teeth rattling
The alarm cries of leading CDU/CSU politicians on the subject of budget restructuring could be part of a shift in discourse
The rough coalition in Berlin is taking shape. The personnel ies are settled, at least in principle. Now it is a matter of content. Superlatives have not been spared since the beginning of the week. The "Roughest budget restructuring in German history" predicts Edmund Stoiber, the designated Minister of Economics. The rough "Howling and teeth rattling", Stoiber refers to the Maastricht criteria, according to which the debt of an EU member state may not exceed three percent of the gross domestic product. If Germany is to achieve this goal by 2007, 35 billion euros will have to be saved.
The strong words are not surprising at first. After all, appeals to tighten the belt have been part of the standard repertoire of all leading politicians for more than a decade. But most of the time they are ared that it is not so bad after all. The strong words of the Union politicians are also astonishing because the concrete budget cuts are not yet known. Instead, the proposals are piling up. The homeowner’s allowance is to be abolished, the commuter allowance is to be severely curtailed, the federal subsidy for pension insurance is to be lowered, and the health insurance contribution for senior citizens is to be raised. Even an increase in the value-added tax is not explicitly ruled out. The impression is that all sectors of society will be affected by shortcuts. That is why Stoiber and Koch have been accused of alarmism and scaremongering.