SNAPSHOTS

An Ideological Divide Deepens in Germany's Government

Aug 28, 2020 | 15:51 GMT

The growing ideological disputes over fiscal policy and EU integration in Germany's governing coalition provide a preview for not only the country's 2021 general election, but German domestic and foreign politics for at least the next half-decade. Germany's finance minister Olaf Scholz, who is a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), recently said that the European Commission should be permanently allowed to issue debt on behalf of the 27 members of the European Union, and also suggested that Germany's constitutional debt brake, which was suspended earlier this year, should not be reintroduced in 2021. Scholz's partners in the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) then criticized both statements, arguing the commission should only issue debt to pay for pandemic-related economic relief measures and requested Scholz present a plan to restore fiscal stability in Germany. ...

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