SPD Chief Lars Klingbeil to Intensify Pressure on CDU and CSU After the Vote of Confidence
“After the vote of confidence, I expect the Union to regroup in the opposition, so we can remain effective” Klingbeil told the Bayern Media Group’s Monday editions.
“We urgently need to lower energy prices to secure industrial jobs. Here, there is a need for responsibility, not job refusal.” The government is “broken apart, but the challenges facing the economy are not gone with it.”
Klingbeil also accused the CDU of using poor economic data for the election campaign: “I think it’s not right for the CDU to say, ‘We’ll wait six months.’ Maybe the Union wants the narrative of the German industry’s decline for its election campaign.”
Regarding the SPD now profiting from the un-abandoned pension package in the election campaign, Klingbeil said, “I would have preferred to pass the pension package rather than making it an election issue. It’s about guaranteeing a stable pension for people who have worked hard. And it will become all the more clear in these days that the SPD is the only party fighting for this.”
Looking at the financing of the SPD’s election promises, Klingbeil added that they have a financial plan in place. They will make concrete proposals for relieving the people, such as reducing the value-added tax on food and a tax reform. “And unlike the Union, we also tell the people how we will finance it: with a moderate tax increase for the super-rich, the Germany fund, and a reform of the debt brake.”
“This way, we can also enable more investments in education, security, and infrastructure. This is what differentiates us from the Union, which will primarily spend billions for the better-off, but does not make any proposals for financing.”
Klingbeil accused the Union of false accounting: “I wonder if the Union is not seriously calculating or simply not presenting the list.