The CDU Minister Presidents of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, Reiner Haseloff and Michael Kretschmer, are open to a reform of the debt brake. "The debt brake must remain," Haseloff told Stern magazine. "But for very important future investments in the economy, technology and science, constitutionally compliant ways must be found to realize them."
Kretschmer told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" that if the federal government is prepared to make real savings, the Union will support this. At the end of a joint process, there could be a pact for Germany - "and perhaps a discussion about a change to the debt brake". Such an austerity course must include not increasing social spending any further.
The debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law only gives the federal government limited scope for borrowing. Exceptions are permitted in the event of natural disasters and extraordinary emergencies, such as the recent coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
A reform of the debt brake is not currently on the agenda for the traffic light federal government. "It is not on the agenda at the moment," said government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin on Friday.
