BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday he expected his coalition government to swiftly come to an agreement on the 2024 budget after a constitutional court ruling derailed its financial plans.
Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Economy Minister Robert Habeck held crisis talks on the budget over the weekend which are expected to continue on Monday evening after a hiatus for long-planned German-Brazilian government consultations.
Habeck cancelled his trip to global climate talks in Dubai so the three-way coalition could work through key decisions, including whether to suspend self-imposed debt limits again next year and how to balance pro-industry and welfare spending.
“We are currently working on… very very swiftly solving this issue, so there is very quickly clarity,” Scholz said at a joint news conference with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The chancellor said everyone involved in the budget talks was acting in a “very constructive” way so he remained confident.
Scholz has also canceled a visit to an Airbus event in Bavaria scheduled for Tuesday to free up more time.
If the agreement is reached on Tuesday, it could be presented to cabinet on Wednesday.
Then, according to the government’s assessment, the deadlines for parliamentary procedure could be met and a first reading of the 2024 budget could take place in the Bundestag in the week starting Dec. 11.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh; editing by Christina Fincher)
