Union and state financial equalization: The miracle weapon against left-wing politics

The Union wants to turn off the money supply to Berlin. The parliamentary group leaders of the CDU and CSU reiterated their threat to “revise” both the state financial equalization and the capital city financing agreement. If a left-wing government comes into being in Berlin that has “anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews in its program,” the Union-led federal states would “launch a joint initiative.”

It would be a mistake to dismiss this threat as a smokescreen that cannot be legally implemented anyway. The Union and its friends from the real estate industry would be happier than to nip the left's upswing in the capital in the bud with restrictive budget policies. The CSU is concerned with more than just what it sees as unfair state financial equalization. After the election victory of the right-wing extremist AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder described the idea of ​​cutting the state's funds as "absurd".

Söder is not driven to the barricades by the Left Party's alleged anti-Semitism, but by the planned socialization of real estate. From the conservatives' point of view, property is more sacred than affordable rents. It is hardly surprising if the mere possibility of socialization triggers massive defensive reactions.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

Budget discipline is a proven instrument worldwide against left-wing economic policy. “Make the economy scream” was the motto in a CIA communiqué in response to the election of Salvador Allende in Chile. In Africa, too, the International Monetary Fund prevented socialist development models by linking access to the capital market to neoliberal privatization policies.

In Europe, the Troika's tough austerity measures prevented the left-wing Syriza from advancing progressive policies in Greece. It's hardly surprising if the federal government can't think of anything to torpedo the budget of a left-wing governed capital.