Assets, higher minimum wages, green and digital. Here is the program of Scholz (Spd)
The whole program, chapter by chapter, of the Social Democratic candidate Olaf Scholz for the chancellery in the German elections on 26 September
Climate, work and greater social justice are the cornerstones of the economic program with which Olaf Scholz, former mayor of Hamburg and outgoing finance minister, wants to conquer the chancellery. Presented and voted on by the delegates already at the beginning of May, these proposals had ended up a bit on the corner, thanks to the catastrophic polls that had accompanied the Social Democrats until the summer. Then, suddenly, the rebirth, the recovery and even the overtaking first on the Greens and then on the Union. Today, three weeks after the September 26 vote, Scholz is the favorite and that program is now read and discussed as the likely basis for future government talks.
Three weeks are long, the uncertainties for an anomalous electoral campaign (also due to the conditions imposed by the pandemic) are many and no one dares any more predictions, especially since according to a survey by public TV Zdf 89% of voters think that at the moment you can tell who will win the elections.
But if the polls are credible, the trend of recent weeks not only does not reverse but is consolidated: after the comeback, the SPD detaches its opponents and Olaf Scholz strengthens himself as the most credible and reliable candidate. The post-Merkel could therefore speak Hanseatic. It is therefore useful to go and see his cards, extrapolating some main programmatic points on the economy side.
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
On what in the initial phase of the electoral campaign seemed the main theme, the climate, Olaf Scholz remained in the wake of social democratic politics, trying to combine the renewed ecological impetus (especially of young people) with the needs of greater gradualness expressed by workers and companies in traditional sectors and from older population groups. The SPD road map towards a climate neutral country is more elastic than that of the greens and foresees its achievement by 2045. Climate defense is in any case a priority for the coming years and to make it concrete and acceptable to society as a whole. German must become the engine of future work.
Electricity must be entirely produced from renewable sources by 2040 and Scholz promises a reform of the incentive mechanism for renewable energy (the Erneuerbare-Energien-Umlage) that will lower electricity costs. And for climate protection policies to work socially, the increased costs of CO2 for heating should be borne by the property owners and not passed on to the tenants.
MINIMUM WAGE AT 12 EUROS
The central point of the Social Democratic campaign is the raising of the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour, an increase of 2.50 euros compared to the current 9.50. It became the main topic, also to underline how its introduction in 2015 and the adjustments made in the following years were a conquest of the SPD in the government and not a medal of merit by Angela Merkel. The Social Democrats have suffered from the Chancellor's practice of appropriating historic battles of the SPD, then taking the electoral advantages from them. The "Mindestlohn" at 12 euros is an attempt to return to mark the territory by looking at low-income workers, those employed in the mini-jobs that most of all paid for the lockdowns for the pandemic. It is a proposal that scares entrepreneurs, but is viewed favorably by some economists who consider it useful not only from a social point of view, but also as a stimulus for consumption and therefore for growth. On the other hand, its introduction six years ago did not produce those catastrophes that employers feared.
The aim of the SPD is to get as many workers out of minijobs as possible, favoring the transition to more regular forms of contracts. In the delicate and strategic sector of care for the elderly, where a dramatic shortage of personnel persists, workers will have to be paid according to tariff tables. Measures are also foreseen for workers of online platforms: more wages and more rights.
FROM THE HARTZ IV WOUND TO CITIZENSHIP INCOME
The Social Democrats have always linked – rightly or wrongly – their electoral decline to the reforms on assistance launched by Gerhard Schröder with the Agenda 2010, thus losing the opportunity to appropriate also the economic successes produced by that great reform. The subsidy called Hartz IV is still a bleeding wound for the SPD today, especially for its leftmost wing. Scholz promises to transform the subsidy into a real citizenship income, which maintains all the stimuli (and obligations) that favor the reintegration of the earner in the labor market but which also provides for some relaxation in controls: for example, for the first two years, on property and apartment.
Adjustments also on the front of unemployment benefits, which should be paid for a longer period to long-term taxpayers.
TAX: NO TO SCHWARZE NULL BUT DEBTS WITHIN THE ROOF
Public investments must grow because the modernization of the country also needs the hand of the state. The SPD distances itself from the Schwarze Null policy (zero budget without new debts) which was Wolfgang Schäuble's mantra even in the years of the Grosse Koalition: yes therefore to new debts, but always within the limits granted by the Schuldbremse, the ceiling (brake) on the debt set in the Constitution.
Fairer taxes. Reliefs for medium and low incomes, on the other hand increases for the richest 5% of taxpayers, for which a 1% wealth tax is envisaged.
CONCRETE PROPOSALS ON DIGITIZATION
Digitization. This is the chapter on which the competition between the parties is the most intense, since the delay with which Germany is chasing competing countries, especially Asian and American, is common knowledge. The Liberals and the Union insist above all on this terrain. Scholz admits that "Germany's digital future is not looking as rosy as we would like". He does not promise new strategies, but puts on the plate the funds already allocated as finance minister. Here too he tries to be more concrete than his opponents and indicates the real German problem: there is no lack of money, but the ability to engage them in valid projects.
There are three channels on which to channel the 12 billion euros allocated by his ministry: artificial intelligence, development of quantum computers and start-ups. 5 billion euros are committed to projects related to artificial intelligence, and Scholz says he has set an example: "We are using it in the financial administration to have more accurate forecasts on taxes and expenses," he said recently. at a demonstration of the Bitkom association. Two billion are instead available for plans for the development of quantum computing, a sector in which the Germans would like to carve out a space by reducing the gap especially with US companies and funding also exists for research and development of the mobile telephone infrastructure: the leap of quality will be precisely in improving the mechanisms that allow funding to reach projects and become reality.
For start-ups, the problem is a bit more complex, because more than money and financing, the diverse world of innovative companies is asking for a modernization of the tax regulatory framework for the employment of employees: the rules are too restrictive and hostile to innovation, complain the entrepreneurs, among whom the young and dynamic electoral reservoir of the FDP lurks. On this front, the “old” SPD, more linked to a traditional world of work, shows some anxiety and could, on the contrary, benefit from a government alliance with the liberals.
ENHANCE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Expansion of public transport systems and modernization of the bus and train fleet to achieve climate neutrality. It is the heart of Olaf Scholz's transport program, which incorporates the strategies formulated for post-Covid societies. The SPD is traditionally in favor of the development of public transport infrastructures in the city and unlike the Greens, it pushes cities for an overall growth of the system: yes to the development of metro networks, while ecologists focus only on trams.
Even on long distances, it is not enough to announce the greater climate sustainability of train travel compared to airplanes: it is necessary to rebalance costs and make the former cheaper than the latter. The expansion of the railway network is also planned, with the strengthening of direct connections between large cities. On the other hand, there is no mention of night trains, a market segment in great recovery but from which the Deutsche Bahn excluded itself years ago and does not seem willing to return. It is above all the Austrians of the OB who fill this void on German territory.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/patrimoniale-salario-minimo-piu-alto-green-e-digitale-ecco-il-programma-di-scholz-spd/ on Sun, 05 Sep 2021 05:26:26 +0000.