For Volker Wieland, economic turnaround would be a “clear step forward” (Tagesspiegel, FAZ)

Finance Minister Christian Lindner's economic policy paper is the subject of heated debate. For Prof. Volker Wieland, one thing is clear: “It would be a significant step forward for Germany”, as reported by the Tagesspiegel. In his opinion, the positions on many issues within the coalition are hardly compatible.

On the platform x, formerly Twitter, Wieland went on to say: “The interplay of citizen's allowance, housing costs, housing benefit and child supplement means that in many household constellations, taking up or expanding work is not worthwhile in monetary terms. The system should be reformed.” There are models for this. “Especially those that do not result in additional household burdens or an increase in the number of transfer recipients.” According to Wieland, individual disadvantages compared to the status quo are unavoidable, “but also welcome in terms of activation and incentive orientation.”

The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” compared the positions within the coalition and asked various economists for their assessment. “The Greens will hardly agree to a postponement of the 2045 climate neutrality target. That is too symbolically charged,” said Wieland. Such a postponement would probably only come with a CDU-led government. He hopes that the Greens will be able to focus more on the steering effect of the CO2 price in climate policy and abandon their subsidy policy, he added. “If the coalition could agree on a law that would allow infrastructure projects to be implemented as quickly as the construction of the liquefied natural gas terminal, a lot would have been gained,” said Wieland on the subject of reducing bureaucracy.

He was skeptical about Economics Minister Habeck's proposal to finance investment incentives: “Not everyone in the coalition seems to have the European debt requirements on their radar. It is simply not possible to build up debt without complying with the debt brake.”

Tagesspiegel: "Das FDP-Papier im Check"
FAZ: "Ist die Ampel noch zu retten?"