No. 162 - Germany's 2014 budget and indicative budgets through 2018 – ambitious commitments and plans of the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition

Institute for Western Affairs' Bulletin (No.162/2014), Prof. Ilona Romiszewska,‘Germany's 2014 budget and indicative budgets through 2018 – ambitious commitments and plans of the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition’

Having come into power, the new CDU/CSU and SPD coalition needed to pass a new federal budget in keeping with the terms of the coalition agreement of November 2013. The agreement contained a significant clause on the Federation’s budget and finance which provided for creating a solid financial foundation for balancing the budget and bringing the runaway state debt in check. When presenting the budget, the CDU/CSU/SPD coalition government stressed it was reprehensible to increase debt and that it strived to make Germany a shining example (Musterknabe) for the rest of Europe.