Christian Lindner, head of the FDP and federal finance minister, is a friend of smug provocation. Accordingly, he should have been pleased when he announced in the “Bild” newspaper that he was “questioning” a planned extension of the Ministry of Finance. Instead, he is checking “whether living space can be created here”. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, SPD, this is a double needle prick.
The first needle prick: Just last week, on the Maischberger show, Lindner suggested examining the planned new chancellery building, for which 777 million euros are now estimated. “I believe that in times of home office and location-flexible work, a new building next to the Chancellery that costs at least 800 million euros is unnecessary,” he said. However, he believed, he added, that the Chancellery was “displeased” with his proposal.
He was right. It didn’t take long for the chancellery to disagree. “The need for a new building remains unchanged,” a government spokeswoman told the Tagesspiegel. “The construction of the extension is necessary because there is a need for a functional government headquarters, especially in times of crisis.” The number of employees in the Chancellery has increased rapidly in recent years, because there is not enough space in the Chancellery, offices were rented nearby.
Can Lindner do what Scholz can’t do?
But as it is, Lindner shows that what doesn’t work in the Chancellery might work for his house. The FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer thinks that the cancellation of the new building is “a loud signal in housing policy”. “All ministers should do the same, because the turning point must also reach the houses themselves.”
But not only from his own party does Lindner get praise for the advance. Green MP Bruno Hönel also likes the proposal. “The budget situation is more challenging than in the last election period. That’s why I think it’s right for the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Chancellery to critically examine the new buildings and extensions that were initiated at the time,” he told the Tagesspiegel. With the savings running into the millions, Hönel suggested that “the traffic light coalition’s social and ecological projects could advance”.
Even the Union finds words of praise. In view of the energy prices and inflation, it would be a “completely misguided political signal” to stick to the new Chancellery building, said the Union’s building policy spokesman, Jan-Marco Luczak, in the Tagesspiegel. “Instead of magnificent buildings, it would be better to build more apartments,” he said. “So I think Christian Lindner’s announcement to check the expansion of the Ministry of Finance is right.”
800
millions The new building should cost no more than euros
From the Ministry of Finance it is said that so far “proportional planning costs of around 35 million euros have been incurred”. “For the construction work itself, another 600 to 800 million euros would be needed,” a ministry spokesman told the Tagesspiegel. Last week, Lindner arranged for the previous plans to be reviewed. “The test has been started but not yet completed,” it said.
It must have been a last-minute decision by the finance minister. On Wednesday last week in the budget committee, his parliamentary state secretary Florian Toncar, FDP, presented the plans for the new building according to information from the daily mirror.
The second needle prick for the chancellor: The expansion of the Ministry of Finance was commissioned by one of his predecessors – by Olaf Scholz of all people.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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