German finance minister says budget full of investment plans

Berlin  – The German government’s new budget includes lots of new investment, said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz Friday during the final day of initial debate on the proposal, swatting back criticism that he was focused too much on saving.

“This budget and this financial plan are very investment-focused,” he said about the 341-billion-euro (404-billion-dollar) proposal. “Any qualification of this as austerity politics is wrong.”

He noted an extra 56 billion euros in expenditures and investments during the course of four years planned into the budget.

Criticism came both from Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and opposition parties. Kevin Kuehnert, who heads the SPD’s youth wing had previously lashed out at him for too much of a focus on balancing books and not doing enough to promote the party’s values in this week’s presentation of the budget.

Kay Gottschalk, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany, also slammed Scholz, noting the budget does not include any middle class tax cuts, even as it includes funding for programmes to support refugees.

“Your new fetish is refugees instead of skilled workers,” he said, adding that the SPD’s initials should really stand, in German, for “Socialists plunder you.”