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The centre-left-led alliance that will lead Germany from Wednesday has declared ambitions to make Europe’s biggest economy greener and fairer.
In their coalition agreement, the Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP addressed issues from climate protection to foreign policy to cannabis.
Here are the main points of their roadmap for Germany:
No new debt
Germany’s no-new-debt rule had been suspended in the coronavirus pandemic, allowing the government to borrow billions to finance its way out of the crisis.
But the country’s next government – known as a “traffic-light” coalition because of the parties’ red, green and yellow colours – plans a return to the rule that is anchored in the German constitution.
In their agreement, they pledged to reinstate the so-called debt brake by 2023.
Maintaining the debt brake was a must for the FDP, and Social Democrat Finance Minister Olaf Scholz – who will be Germany’s next chancellor – has also long been an advocate of the rule.
The parties also agreed to not raise taxes during their mandate, according to a tweet by FDP leader Christian Lindner – a win for his party which has refused to raise any fiscal pressure on taxpayers.
Minimum wage, housing, vote at 16
In return, the Social Democrats secured their electoral promise of raising the minimum wage to 12 euros ($14) from the current 9.60 euros.
To keep housing affordable, the coalition agreed to build 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 using public funds. A cap will be introduced on rental hikes, limiting any increases to a maximum 11 percent in three years.
The three-party combo also agreed to lower the voting age to 16 – something likely to favour the Greens and FDP, which have younger supporters than Angela Merkel’s conservatives, who are largely backed by Germany’s army of pensioners.
Climate
The Greens’…
Source : france24
