Liberals obtain the well-known portfolio of finances, the Greens a large ministry of the economy, energy and climate, as well as those of the environment and agriculture, while the SPD picks up Defense, interior and health.
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The change in continuity: the formula comes spontaneously in mind to describe the current transition at the head of Germany. This Wednesday, November 24 will have been the perfect illustration. In the morning, Angela Merkel (CDU) presided over his last Council of Ministers. For the occasion, his vice-chancellor, Olaf Scholz (SPD), offered him a bouquet of flowers warmly thanking her for his sixteen years of “tireless commitment” at the head of the country. In the afternoon, the same Olaf Scholz held a press conference to present the “coalition contract” which will serve as a roadmap in the government of which it will take the reins when it is elected Chancellor by the Bundestag, presumably in the week December 6th.
177 pages long, this “coalition contract” is for title: “dare more progress”. A nod to the slogan of Willy Brandt (SPD) which, in 1969, had been elected Chancellor on the following promise: “Dare more democracy”. Half a century later, Olaf Scholz also places his mandate under the sign of the audacity, going to promise, with an emphasis that is unusual, “the most important modernization of the German industry for more a century “. To look closely, however, the government he will lead with the Greens and the Liberal-Democratic Party (FDP) – a first in Germany – should not break fundamentally with Angela Merkel’s policy. Except perhaps societally with the decision to legalize cannabis, which will be put on sale “in the authorized stores” in order to “control the quality, to prevent the distribution of contaminated substances and to protect public health. “.
Symbol of this continuity: the Ministry of Finance. Supporters of a revision of the “debt brake”, principle included in the Constitution since 2009 and which prohibits the federal state of taking into debt to more than 0.35% of the gross domestic product, the Greens dreamed of winning this wallet. It will eventually be entrusted to the Liberals, defenders of a strict budget orthodoxy. Under the leadership of their president, Christian Lindner, who has to settle in the office held since 2018 by Olaf Scholz, Germany plans to find public accounts at equilibrium from 2023, after rebating the “brake to Debt “for three years due to the Pandemic of Covid-19.
Minimum wage at 12 euros
If they managed to prevent the establishment of a wealth tax, claimed by the Social Democrats and ecologists, the Liberals, however, had to make concessions. On the social, first of all: as Olaf Scholz had promised during his campaign, the minimum wage will pass 12 euros raw from the hour (compared to 9.60 euros currently) from next year. On the economy, then: if the FDP retrieves the transport portfolio, getting the non-introduction of a speed limitation at 130 km / h on the highway, the Greens have, however, obtained a large ministry of the economy, energy and climate, as well as those of the environment and agriculture.
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