The relief that the constitutional judges in Karlsruhe did not immediately stop the first traffic light budget law should not only be great in the Federal Ministry of Finance, but also in the Chancellery.

In this way, red-green-yellow can continue to use the loans that were generously granted at the start.

The colorful alliance used reserves from the old coalition for this purpose.

The money was intended for the fight against the pandemic and its unpleasant consequences, but nice corona dangling words were written into the supplementary law in order to somehow comply with the requirements of the Basic Law - or at least to pretend to be.

Significant amounts of the hoarded items will only be issued when the worst of the pandemic is likely to be over.

The country will only know whether the justification for the traffic light really works after the decision has been made on the main issue.

Doubts are allowed.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner obviously takes the process very seriously.

After the first decision became known, he performed a little trick to take precautions so that someone else is to blame if things go wrong after all next year.

First of all, he does what is expected of him.

The FDP politician praises the decision with solemn words.

It is good news for many that aid programs do not have to be stopped.

He then notes that Chancellor Olaf Scholz should feel encouraged, since he prepared this part of the coalition agreement as his predecessor.

This reference is probably due less to the minister's modesty than to the political principle of caution.

But not only for the traffic light is a lot at stake in the main proceedings.

If the coalition gets through with its budgetary trick, the debt brake will no longer be worth much.

It's not just the coalition governing the federal government that loves to play with debt-financed sub-budgets in order to be prepared for tough debt brake years.

This method is also spreading in other countries.

If the debt brake in the Basic Law is to keep its meaning, such escape attempts must be stopped.