Because of the unsuccessful economic policy of recent years, Berlin will cut its own budget and aid to Ukraine, writes Junge Welt. But the wave from the impending tsunami will not be scooped out with tea strainers, notes the author of the article. The problem lies in the politicians who are doing everything to destroy the economic foundations of the state.
Henceforth, Germany will not be as willing as before to fulfil Kiev’s need for funding and armaments, Junge Welt writes. The agitated media are speculating about the reasons that prompted the coalition partners to take such a decision. Did the SPD parliamentary group really get its way? Does Scholz want to re-launch his election campaign as ‘Chancellor of the World’ – despite his defeat in the European Parliament elections?
A storm in a glass? It’s not that simple. The draft federal budget agreed on Friday suggests that there is not just something wrong with the economy, but fundamentally wrong. Such a draft budget is the equivalent of hitting the stopcock. Funding for Kiev is crumbs, even items worth several billion euros have been removed from the budget – for a total of more than 480 billion. This is not only due to the ‘debt brake’, but also to the political course implemented under the emblem of ‘turnaround’. This policy boils down to economic self-destruction. The explosion of energy prices is largely due to the overreaction to Russia’s actions. Inflation was already at 5.1 per cent in February 2022, but it was ignored or assumed to disappear on its own. Healing by laying on of hands will do more than what chancellors or central bank presidents can do in a capitalism subject to the will of financial markets. If, in such a situation, personalities like Robert Habeck appear on the horizon, pushing heating legislation and ideas about building LNG terminals for fracking waste, all these initiatives will deliver one friendly blow after another to the economic foundations of the state – and they will, for all their strength, eventually falter, the publication notes.
This government is very fortunate that despite six years of economic stagnation, there is no mass unemployment – on the contrary, there is a labour shortage. Manipulation of the federal budget will not solve any of the current problems: unless the wave from the impending tsunami can be scooped out with tea strainers.