FEDERAL BUDGET 2025: “This country has no more visions!” CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann

The federal government has launched the federal budget for 2025 and a supplementary budget . They are said to have passed the cabinet, according to an insider. The debt brake should be adhered to in both years. Nevertheless, debts are also planned for both years. A total of around €94 billion in the budget for 2025 is still expected to leave a gap of €17 billion. In the Bundestag. The draft laws will then be discussed after the summer break. The decision is planned for November. Changes are still possible before it is passed in a few months. I would like to talk about this with Carsten Linnemann, CDU General Secretary. Thank you very much for your time. Hello Ms. Bach! The draft or decision that we have all been waiting for for a very long time. Now he is standing. And although new debt is being allowed again, there is still a hole of 17 billion next year. And by 2028 there will be a shortfall of €65 billion in budgets. Also not refilled. So now the calculations have been done seriously. What do you say to that? I mean, of course everyone now expects, because I'm an opposition politician, that this is all bad. Now we can go into more detail, but what bothers me the most is there is no signal to leave, nothing. This country no longer has any vision and this federal government is navigating its ship aimlessly. So that's just crap. To put it in German. This country deserves more. We are such a great country and that's why you shouldn't just say that we're going to go into the summer break with this budget without hesitation . Instead, we should now give this country a new strength and say, we will now act as a traffic light and show that we can do it. Instead, I unfortunately have the feeling that we will just carry on arguing, etc. until the federal election, which will probably take place on September 8th and 20th this year. And that is extremely dangerous because this country finally needs a signal of departure again, that things are moving forward, that performance is worth it again, that promoting and demanding money is important, and that internal security is once again a priority. None of this is happening. But could this signal have been sent now with the budget? What are you missing? Absolutely. I mean, you can see in the Federal Police, as I'm reading now, that savings are being made even there. Otherwise, of course, castles in the air will be built. I mean, it's not mine. You read it in the newspapers every day. There is now a shortfall of 17 billion, so there is so-called global underspending. I don't want to go into it now, but 8 billion, to give just one example, has now been budgeted in such a way that we say we will no longer give the railway subsidies, but rather loans. The railway is in huge deficit, the money. It won't work that way. Or you would like to reallocate any help from the gas price brake from back then. Is there still a budget? I can't just repurpose that and use it now. The Federal Constitutional Court has shown this. Or the Bundesautobahn GmbH. There should now be no more subsidies there either, only loans and no income at all. The money from the toll goes directly into the budget. So these are all air bookings and I'm predicting you today, you'll invite me back in September when it 's budget week. There's a really big argument because it suddenly arrives in the Bundestag. Oops, those were air bookings. It's all built on sand, it's not sustainable. And then you argue again and you can't move forward. I would also like to talk to you about a specific matter: in this budget, the money for integration courses has been halved to 500 million instead of 1.1 billion. It's always said that we have to do more for integration and similar things from all parties. Actually, you can then convey that this is exactly where you need to save money now. Now you probably expect an opposition politician to immediately say of course you can't save money. No, you can't. But I'm saying something different now if you put these people into work straight away. It is the best integration course ever. The Americans say learning by doing at that moment. We have so many job opportunities in Germany, where these people go to work, they become German much faster than they do now. Six months. So wait for a course or twelve months in some cases. This country can't stand that. And that's why we have to make more money available for integration. But it would be even better to put people to work immediately. And for that you would have to use citizen money. It would have to be abolished and a fair system created so that only those who really cannot work for physical reasons, for example, receive support. But everyone who can work has to go to work, otherwise there are no social benefits. For me that would be Germany in 2024. The politics that would be popular. However, if we stick with integration now, there has now been another shocking case where it clearly didn't work. An 18-year-old Moroccan is said to have pushed or kicked a 55-year-old down a flight of stairs in Uelzen. The man died. It feels as if the outcry from politics, especially from Federal Interior Minister Caesar, is missing. If you don't look closely anymore . I think it's good that you address this so openly here. Ms. Bachmann hardly noticed it in the media. And we have to call a spade a spade so that something like this doesn't happen again in the future. Someone comes from Morocco, flees and apparently wants safety here. Or had a Moroccan passport, perhaps from another country who wants safety here and people die here? Yes, common sense says I don't need to study law for that. Such people have no place here and must be deported immediately. Every criminal in Germany must be deported, regardless of where they come from. And we have a duty to do the same when we govern again. It would be even better if people who have such nonsense in their heads don't come to Germany at all, but only people who really need help come to Germany. And that must be the goal, that such people no longer come to Germany. Because we see whoever is in Germany, in quotation marks, has made it. And that has to end . And that’s what the CDU stands for. Stricter migration policy is also something that is being discussed in the USA. I would like to take a look at it with you, because there is currently the Republican Party Convention with Donald Trump. Jens Spahn is also there and told his colleagues at Politico that we should seek common ground with Trump and work with him from day one. What exactly do such similarities look like? It is clear that if he were to become President of the United States, we would of course have to work with him. America, these are our friends. At the same time, we are dealing with a Trump who will probably represent American interests more than ever in the future. So we also have to represent our interests. And I would be in favor of talking again about a trade agreement with the United States, for example. It will be difficult, but it would be worth a try. And that's probably what Jens Spahn means. Work together as equals? Of course everyone represents their own interests and Obama. And sorry, Trump will do that more than ever. Other presidents have not done this like Obama, for example. But we have to adapt to that. And with Mr. Biden, who is now also imposing tariffs on Chinese cars, America is already taking this route. So it's not completely new now. It is important that Germany and Europe find their old strength. Only then will we be taken seriously by others, especially by Mr. Trump. If you want one last question, a little away from world politics, back in Germany: Brandenburg's CDU top candidate Jan Rebmann. He was stopped by the police while drunk on an e-scooter and pulled out of traffic. And now it turns out that his information about the crime may be slightly different. The colleagues of the Märkischen Allgemeine report, with reference to police sources, that he initially claimed that it was a routine check. Police say he was pulled out because he was attracting attention. There was a blood test and not just blowing. And besides, he probably didn't give up his driver's license entirely voluntarily. Shortly before the elections this is a disaster. And how is this being responded to now? So what's important is that I learned this from my grandma. Mistakes can happen, but you have to own up to them and mistakes can only happen once and not twice. So, and that's why you have to lie or I can't say that, because this is the first time I've heard that. I can't say that. He immediately went aggressively into the press and admitted this big mistake and in that respect, in my opinion, he did the right thing. I wish more politicians would act like this about other things. Sorry, I'm stumped now. We're excited to see what happens next. Not only in Brandenburg, but especially in September. You said it, we will definitely see you here again, Mr. Linnemann, thank you very much, Ms. Bach. Thank you very much.