Trittin, gysi and bruderle argue about social issues and money

The leaders of the green and left parties, jurgen trittin and gregor gysi, made forceful demands for a flat minimum wage and more tax fairness as an alternative on the ARD program "der TV-dreikampf" on monday. FDP faction leader rainer bruderle countered: "the best thing we can do is to keep the economy going."

Even if it is uncertain whether the black-yellow coalition will be able to win after the 22nd parliamentary term. Since the september election is not enough and it does not look like there will be a majority for red-green at the moment, the three politicians have remained firm on the coalition issue. "Green change is only possible with strong greens and only in a red-green coalition," trittin said against black-green coalition.

Gysi made it clear that there could be no coalition with the SPD and the greens because of the left’s rejection of military missions abroad and other issues. "Language doesn’t fail because of us, if it does, it’s because of the SPD and the greens," he stressed. Bruderle called the SPD and the greens maximum tax increases and accused the greens of a prohibitionist policy. He once again criticized the fact that the greens are campaigning for one vegetarian day per week in public canteens. Bruderle thus clearly distinguished himself from a traffic light coalition.

Trittin initially set the tone: "the economic situation in germany is good, the situation for many people is not good." gysi called for a change of course. A minimum wage should stem the low-wage sector and mini-jobs. Bruderle countered: "of course you can talk everything down."A uniform minimum wage does not reflect the differences in germany and is economically wrong.

The three politicians were strikingly more vocal and attacked each other more fiercely than chancellor angela merkel (CDU) and SPD challenger peer steinbruck in the TV duel the day before. Pension example: gysi advocated a general inclusion of self-employed persons in the pension fund and a return to retirement at age 65 instead of age 67. Around 40 percent of people are not in dependent employment and therefore do not pay into the pension fund. Bruderle countered: "that is a perfect planned economy, it will lead us astray."Trittin advocated stabilizing pension levels through higher incomes. Among other things, a minimum wage would also serve this purpose.

Trittin defended the tax increases announced by his party in the event of an election victory. In the concept, 90 percent of income earners would have more net income from gross income by raising the basic tax-free allowance. Bruderle railed against it: "i would like to end the marching hour." the green tax tariffs would burden the middle of society.

The three politicians also demonstrated a rough distance when it came to the recipes against the euro crisis. "They want eurobonds," bruderle reproached trittin. The green leader replied: "I didn’t say anything about eurobonds, I just said you have to invest if you want to get out of the must pot."The three also put forward different arguments on the question of how the energy transition can regain momentum without placing a heavier burden on electricity consumers.