The draft budget for 2023 documents the will of the traffic light coalition to return to normal financial policy.

It is thanks to the FDP that there is this will in the constellation of three in the federal government.

Against the reservations of the SPD and the Greens, she pushed through a clear commitment to the debt brake in the coalition agreement.

Your finance minister, Christian Lindner, would do well to show with his first "own" budget plan that the commitment to solid state finances has consequences - and that the government wants to make its contribution to the fight against inflation with consolidation.

The budget is based on the assumption of a moderate 2.5 percent recovery next year.

That sounds optimistic, but is within the range of current forecasts.

Therefore, the government is prevented from further resorting to the exception to the debt rule, which is only permitted for crises, so Lindner is reducing new debt from the current 140 billion euros to a mere 17 billion euros in 2023.

Unfortunately, this is not happening through sustainable austerity measures with the aim of correcting the overweight of social spending, but by exploiting strategically built reserves and eliminating pandemic-related spending.

The budget plan is therefore primarily an expression of budgetary finesse and less of a reconsideration of political preferences against the background of the Ukraine war.

The cabinet decision strengthens Lindner's back in the legislative process.

Traffic light politicians who want to get more money for their concerns in the fall need very good arguments.

The budget also contains buffers in case energy shortages, war or a pandemic require more help.

But one thing is clear: the budget estimates are particularly uncertain.

If a gas embargo plunges the country into recession, the debt limit could probably not be met again.

It would then be Lindner's job to make it clear to the SPD and the Greens that, in addition to all sorts of subsidies, social projects in the coalition agreement are no longer valid, whether basic child security or citizen benefits.

By then at the latest, the traffic light must adjust all plans to the financial reality.