In a few weeks, Christian Lindner, who has a dual responsibility as Federal Minister of Finance and FDP chairman, wants to turn things around in the direction of solidity.

With the 2022 budget, which the Bundestag is supposed to adopt next week, it is possible to sin again according to its ideas, but everything will get better after that.

He wants to return to normality in budgetary policy as early as next year – despite all the risks.

The contradiction could hardly be greater: the Bundestag is preparing new debts in an unprecedented amount, the coalition agreement does not contain any major tax reform, the Liberals are suffering one election defeat after the other - and the FDP politician simply radiates great joy in his office.

This was most recently observed on the Petersberg near Bonn, where he received his counterparts and central bank governors from the group of seven western industrialized countries as host.

The result was manageable liquidity support for Ukraine.

How long will it last?

The war emanating from Russia may drag on for a long time.

Even greater support is likely to prove insufficient in just a few months.

Will the SPD and the Greens participate in this course?

The FDP politician undauntedly spreads confidence.

It got off to a rocky start, to say the least.

With a controversial supplementary budget, he created a powerful reserve for the government to restructure the economy to make it more climate-friendly.

The Union in Karlsruhe is rightly suing against the obvious attempt to circumvent the debt rule by bunkering Corona crisis loans for traffic light plans.

This budgetary sin was the price paid for the red-green-yellow cooperation.

The FDP took part.

You can and must hold that against her.

This year, the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine will again require loans of an extraordinary amount.

That's not nice, but justifiable.

Even if the head of the FDP is unlikely to label himself the king of debts, the planned credit authorizations add up to a new negative record if the “special fund” for the Bundeswehr is also taken into account.

With him, another shadow household is created.

The FDP can hardly be blamed for the long neglect of external security, but the consequences remain with Lindner.

From next year everything should be better.

The Finance Minister has so often protested that he then wants to return to the debt rule in the Basic Law that he can hardly back away from it without losing face.

In fact, the constitution does not allow the new debt ceiling to be exceeded just because the coalition has plans that are as beautiful as they are expensive.

The task that Lindner is facing seems downright daring: in the "core budget" the new debt has to be reduced from around 140 billion euros to just under 8 billion euros.

The most recent tax estimate, which predicts considerable additional income for the federal government for the next few years, is helping, but the consolidation is far from being a sure-fire success.

There are also still gigantic reserves, but not much must happen there for the calculation to work out.

The finance minister recently presented his fiscal policy strategy.

He wants to relieve companies instead of burdening them.

He wants to give back to private households what the state automatically collects from the interplay of inflation and progressive tax rates.

He wants to generally improve the supply conditions, i.e. the framework for everyone who works, produces and invests.

That sounds reasonable, after more market and less government.

If demand is higher than supply, it won't help if the state launches new spending programs, which would only increase the existing bottlenecks.

But doubts remain.

Will the SPD and the Greens participate in this course?

Without a reversal in fiscal policy, the burden on citizens and businesses will continue to increase.

According to the most recent estimate by the responsible working group, the share of taxes in gross domestic product will grow to new heights by 2026.

In the case of social security, the prospects are no better from the point of view of the contributors.

The tax rate and tax rate are indicators that will show in 2025 whether Lindner has achieved what he set out to do.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz proclaimed a turning point after Russia's attack on Ukraine - so far, new spending and loans have been the main focus of financial policy.

If the FDP chairman doesn't want to be left empty-handed in the next federal election, he must succeed in turning things around.