March 29, 2025 (EIRNS)—The two-thirds majority in the recent Bundestag vote on extra-budgetary borrowing in the range of €900 billion was a one-time opportunity that will not be there with the now constituted newly-elected parliament members: the opposition of the AfD, Greens and Die Linke has more combined votes than the CDU and SPD that form the new government. All projects requiring a constitutional majority of two-thirds are ruled out now, and the new government finds it more difficult to bloc political initiatives from the opposition, such as Die Linke’s announced focus on housing and living standards.
One of Die Linke parliamentary group’s first motions will be against usurious rents, and Die Linke also wants to organize a rent summit before the summer and present its concept for a nationwide rent cap there. Die Linke charges that the issue of housing was neither mentioned in the special fund worth billions that had just been agreed upon, nor was it given the space it deserved in the coalition negotiations.
Die Linke was also counting on support from Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Markus Söder for the motion, “because he has already introduced such an initiative twice via the Bundesrat.” At the press conference announcing that, Die Linke Chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner described CDU leader and next Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s plans as “social cuts with an announcement…. There is always money for tanks and missiles, but when it comes to people’s lives, suddenly there is a cash crunch.”
