Here is Laschet’s economic program (spend and spread) to try to get back in the polls
More expenses, more subsidies and less taxes. Laschet's Sofortprogramm (in Italy it would be called one hundred days program) is a novelty for Germany but it is also a gamble, according to many economists. Here because. Pierluigi Mennitti's article from Berlin
An immediate program, a sort of commitment for the first hundred days offered to voters two weeks before the vote. It is Armin Laschet's gimmick to go up in the polls and try to play the stationery card to the last.
Six packages ready to be applied in case of victory, with proposals largely drawn from the program already presented on the eve of the election campaign, plus some new promises drawn from the cylinder of despair. Targeted economic and social measures, with some patronizing gifts to that middle class that Laschet hopes to bring back to the vote for the Union. The sectors: family, security, de-bureaucratization, climate protection, tax relief and Mittelstand, the backbone of German small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Sofortprogramm (precisely what in Italy would be called the hundred-day program) is a novelty for Germany (it comes in all four pages instead of the 139 that it took for the electoral program), but it is also a gamble, since the promises will have to go through the sieve of negotiations with any government partners.
SOCIAL MEASURES FOR FAMILIES
In this regard, it ranges from more money for subsidies to children and concessions for single parents (the latter up to 5,000 euros) to an increase of up to 700 euros for contributions for expenses and assistance to those in need of medical care. "Significant" increase (but no figures here) also for housing subsidies in favor of low-income families and tax deductions of up to 6000 euros for childcare costs.
LESS TAXES FOR SMALL-MEDIUM INCOME
From social fiscal policies to the more strictly economic ones. The Union promises: no increase in taxes in the next 4 years and on the contrary, relief for medium and low incomes and the increase of the minijob ceiling from the current 450 to 550 euros per month. A promise of control also on the additional wage costs that “must remain stable at a maximum of 40%”.
Training for crafts, a sector that suffers from a serious shortage of manpower, will become free, in order to make it competitive with academic training. Also for the mobility of workers, especially from non-metropolitan areas, a form of dynamism is aimed at for travel reimbursement.
ZERO RATE LOANS FOR SOLAR PANEL ROOFS
On the environmental front, one of the most heartfelt arguments, Laschet reaffirms the goal of achieving a climate neutral economy by focusing more on technological innovation than on bans and subsidies. Co2 reduction policies must be supported by tax advantages through forms of exemption. On a concrete level, the Union promises zero-interest loans in the first weeks of a possible government led by Laschet for homeowners who will invest in solar panel roofs.
SECURITY, THOUSAND CAMERAS A YEAR
Finally, a measure to increase public safety, through the promise to install a thousand cameras a year in the most sensitive public places, such as railway and subway stations, bus stops and other areas at risk. Increased penalties for those who attack the police (a worrying phenomenon in German cities) and the promise to establish a national security council in the heart of the chancellery.
THE PLAN DOES NOT CONVINCE THE ECONOMISTS
The Union hopes with these promises to clarify the priorities of its program, even if commentators do not miss the instrumentality of such an initiative. If the negative assessments of the leaders of other parties appear obvious, the criticisms made by authoritative economists such as Gabriel Felbermayr, president of the IfW, the Kiel economic institute, are more painful. "This is not an ambitious program for the future of Germany", he commented, "especially as it looks like a summary of a Union-SPD government contract". For Felbermayr it is legitimate that Laschet aims to convince his electorate of reference, but "there is a lack of binding announcements regarding the de-bureaucracy affecting companies and also in terms of fiscal aid the program does not live up to expectations". The only consolation: “At least there are no gifts on pensions”.
According to Jens Südekum, an experienced economist from the University of Düsseldorf, Laschet's plan “contains expensive promises” and risks “creating deep holes in the state budget”. For Südekum, public spending would grow by tens of billions and it is an illusion to think of covering the greater expenses with economic growth ”. In fact, concludes the economist, Laschet also takes into account greater indebtedness for the next few years.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ecco-il-programma-economico-spendi-e-spandi-di-laschet-per-cercare-di-risalire-nei-sondaggi/ on Tue, 14 Sep 2021 06:02:34 +0000.