Frankfurt (AFP)

The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing Germany to put the budgetary discipline of which it has long been a paragon in Europe for a long time, warned a close friend of Angela Merkel on Tuesday, Berlin forecasting a significant debt in the coming years.

Chancellor Helge Braun announced that "the debt brake will not be respected in the years to come, even with an otherwise strict spending discipline", in a column published by the business daily Handelsblatt.

In other words, this close to Chancellor Angela Merkel militates for a lasting exemption from the sacrosanct rule of the "debt brake" inscribed since 2009 in the German Basic Law and which allows the country to display this day the lowest public debt ratio in the G7 countries.

However, the lasting renunciation of the limitation to deficits is a "strategic decision for economic recovery", just as it aims to offer a "reliable framework for investments" which the country needs to defend its competitiveness, justifies Helge Braun.

"The time has come for politicians and social partners to develop a common strategy on how Germany can recover economically and sustainably from this crisis," he further pleaded.

The lifting of budgetary rigor also means that we will not touch social security contributions "by the end of 2023" and that there will be no "tax increases" to pay off the debt, adds he.

- Significant evolution -

Eight months before the legislative elections, this stance marks a significant development for the conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which until now promised a rapid return to budgetary discipline, the reverse of its ally in the " grand coalition ", the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The debt brake rule normally prohibits the federal government from borrowing more than 0.35% of its GDP.

In exceptional circumstances, however, he may ask Members for authorization to exceed this threshold.

This happened in June when the country launched a vast stimulus plan of 130 billion euros for investments for the future and a revival of consumption in an attempt to overcome the negative consequences of a "bottling" "of the country due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

After years of strict budgetary discipline, Berlin then for the first time broke the debt brake rule.

These expenditures will cause 300 billion euros in new debt in 2020 and 2021, according to the Ministry of Finance.

- Less growth -

Mr Braun's appeal comes amid tightening restrictions on the coronavirus.

Berlin is particularly worried about the appearance of new variants of the virus while the vaccination campaign is delayed and raises many criticisms.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier is due to present the German government's updated growth forecast for this year on Wednesday.

However, after the decline of 5.0% in gross domestic product suffered in 2020, the forecast of a rebound of 4.4% this year could be planed to some 3%, according to the press.

Helge Braun is certainly not advocating a "permanent" relaxation of the debt rule, but an "amendment to the Basic Law" to allow a gradual return, after a few years, to a balanced public finances.

Even surrounded by precautions, the idea has raised criticism.

"A constitutional change to reform the debt brake is the beginning of its end", assured the chairman of the committee of economic wise men advising the government, Lars Feld, in the "Rheinische Post".

According to the economist, the CDU-CSU Union should make "so many concessions to the other parties that there would no longer be any effective limitation of the national debt in Germany" alongside the "European budgetary rules" which are already " sunken, ”adds Feld.

In the opposition, the leader of the radical left party Die Linke, Katja Kipping, believes on the contrary that this proposal does not go far enough against "the previous fetishism of the Union debt brake", cited by " Die Welt ".

© 2021 AFP