The Greens are protesting the move to change Germany’s strict economic policy

Angela Merkel once described the temptation to take out a loan as a “sweet poison”. For the Greens’ opponents, the opposite is true: it is a solution that can solve Germany’s problems.

The Greens, voting almost 20% three months before the election, say that in order for Germany to be modernized and to remain neutral in 20 years, government spending should increase by € 50bn a year for the next ten years.

To achieve this, they need to reform “Debt settlement”, a ban on new borrowing was enshrined in German law in 2009 during the financial crisis.

“The epidemic has exposed all the shortcomings we have in the country – especially in the statistics and governance,” said Lisa Paus, Green’s spokeswoman for the economy. “This is the result of debt. That’s why after space we can’t go back to the old rules we had before. ”

Even before the plague, the Germans were worrying about the situation. State Development Bank KfW sets financial limits for the country – financial governments urgently need to repair bridges, schools and swimming pools – at € 149bn.

The coronavirus was then eradicated in Germany even sharp rest. People were shocked to find that their health facilities were still being flown by fax. They were outraged by the lack of Covid-19 vaccine and the bureaucracy necessary for making an appointment.

The Greens have what they say is a simple solution to the monetary divide: They want to prevent German debtors from spending money, while the government acquires goods and services, but without spending money on them. Here, the party said, some new borrowing should be allowed on the basis of applications that create new state-owned items.

The idea is that years of less money have led to another type of debt – “debt that is not in the books but which is detrimental to our development”, according to Greens. Pushing a bucket on the road, especially when it comes to the weather, he says, will only lead to higher prices, and more debt in the future.

People in this country are genuinely ashamed of their deportation to Germany

Research shows that the majority of voters prefer high economic standards. It is also supported by some German financial experts. “It’s not as if they’ve got a new idea,” says Marcel Fratzscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. “We agree that there is a need for funds like this.”

Some are skeptical. Andreas Meyer-Schwickerath, head of the German financial group OMFIF, said: “The Greens’ ambitions are in line with the idea that interest rates will continue.” “But what happens when they go up by 1-2%? Then you fall into a debt trap.”

The law Greens wants to change, which restricts new borrowing to 0.35% of global sales, has been tight for months. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz suspended immediately after the coronavirus crisis, which gave him access to € 370bn in debt-related debt since 2020. Scholz recently announced that rent an additional € 100bn in 2022.

Scholz, a chancellor among the chancellor’s Social Democrats, now wants to repay the debt that was shattered in 2023, not by 2022 as originally planned, but declined the invitation dealing with them together.

In an interview with the Financial Times last month, he said the Greens were disrespectful because they knew there were no more MPs to change the law. Armin Laschet, right-wing member of the CDU chancellor, and and against any change.

Paus, an economist, agreed that it would be difficult to get rid of debt that had been changed. “If this doesn’t work,” he said, “then we need to consider alternatives – perhaps making money through KfW [or] and create a fundraiser, and support it with cash-generating revenue, and enable it to generate debt. ”

But this can only happen if the EU monetary policy is released. This, too, is a green goal. “If these laws are too strict, and do not recognize the economy, and prevent us from engaging in political activities, they should be changed,” fellow Green leader Robert Habeck wrote in January.

Economic regulations enacted in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact were disrupted by the epidemic. But observers in the EU insist that the initial construction of the SGP, which reduces debt to 60% of GDP and budget cuts by 3%, it cannot be changed.

Paus said at a time when debt growth in Europe’s GDP was 90-100%, there was a need for change. “There is no reason to insist on this principle,” she says, “and it stays within the range of 3 and 60 percent.”

The Greens’ zeal for change does not end there. It also has plans for a € 750bn coronavirus fund set up by the EU last year to help EU countries deal with the economic crisis.

The bill is controversial in Germany. Angela Merkel simply sold the EU’s idea of ​​raising the same debt to her fellow Christian Democrats by assuring them that it did not happen. The Greens, on the other hand, want to turn the money into a “sustainable and sustainable” tool that can set “important future components” of the economy.

Whether they will be able to use their ideas is not fulfilled. If the election results in a Christian Democrat-Green coalition, as many expect, the rejection of their reformist ideas will be disastrous.

But Paus says voters are on their side, and more financial support is on the rise. “People in this country want the government to be effective,” he said. “And they are genuinely ashamed of Germany’s backyard.”