Saxony's SPD leader Henning Homann has called for two East German ministers in the new federal government. "We must be prepared to take on our own people right from the start," said Homann in Dresden. Both he himself and Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) were prepared to do so.
The East must confidently define its interests - representation at the cabinet table would be "point one", said Homann. He criticized the fact that in the current coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD in Berlin, there are no East Germans in the two working groups on domestic and financial policy. "That is not a good thing."
Saxony wants to vigorously represent interests in Berlin
The cooperation between the black-red coalition in Saxony and the federal government will not only be characterized by harmony, Homann announced. In the Bundesrat, the East and Saxony will vigorously represent their own interests.
In general, however, Saxony's SPD leader was satisfied with the talks in Berlin so far, in which six Saxon Social Democrats, including co-party leader Kathrin Michel, are involved in the negotiations. "The result of the exploratory talks shows that the plans of the CDU and SPD coalition allow a real departure for Germany."
Homann described the compromise on the financial package negotiated with the Greens as "very, very good". The overall package has become even better as a result.
Financial package: Bundestag and Bundesrat to decide this week
On Tuesday, the Bundestag is set to approve the planned billion-euro financial package negotiated by the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens. The Bundesrat will follow on Friday. Two-thirds majorities are required in each case.
However, several MPs still want to stop the plan with an urgent application to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, but some of the applications have already been rejected there.
The package is intended to amend the Basic Law in several places: Expenditure on defense, civil protection, intelligence services and cyber security should only fall under the debt brake up to a limit of one percent of gross domestic product - i.e. around 43 billion euros in terms of GDP in 2024. Anything above this can be paid for from loans.
How Saxony could benefit from the package
The federal states are to be given more leeway for their own debt. The basis for calculating this is 0.35 percent of gross domestic product, although the distribution key has not yet been determined. According to Homann, loans of 500 to 750 billion euros could be possible for Saxony.
In addition, a special fund for investments in infrastructure and climate neutrality is to be anchored in the Basic Law, which is to be exempt from the debt brake and fed with 500 billion euros from loans. Of this, 100 billion euros are earmarked for the federal states, to be paid out over a period of ten years. According to Homann, this would be 500 million euros per year for Saxony.
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