(Bloomberg) -- The European Union’s deficit rules don’t accommodate German spending largesse, Finance Minister Christian Lindner told Funke Mediengruppe.
“Even if there was a two-thirds majority in parliament for loosening the debt brake and the annoying Christian Lindner were gone, there still is European law,” he was cited as saying in an interview published over the weekend.
Germany’s coalition government is struggling to draw up its 2025 budget after an initial draft still saw a gap and government experts — commissioned by Lindner to inspect the proposal — flagged potential legal issues with some of the planned measures.
“The stability pact simply doesn’t allow the billions in debt of which some that are left of the center and in the CDU dream — Germany would have to deliberately break EU rules,” said Lindner, who is known for being a fiscal hawk.
“That would have devastating effects on the stability of the monetary union, because a left-wing government in France could then abandon all discipline,” he said. “A new debt crisis must be prevented. Germany must act as a role model.”
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