German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister Michel Barnier have similar problems at the moment: They would like to push through policies, but do not have enough funds from parliament to do so.

On Tuesday, France's lower house, the National Assembly, overwhelmingly rejected the first part of the budget for 2025, which involved revenues, by a large majority. While 392 lawmakers voted against it, 192 lawmakers from the government camp and from the far-right National Rally voted in favor. The vote came after a two-week debate in which the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, which makes up the largest political bloc in parliament, had reshaped the bill with amendments.

These included wealth tax on billionaires, a tax hike on "super-dividends" from large corporations, a tax on multinationals and higher taxes for digital companies, as well as a new tax for particularly loud motorcycles. Lawmakers had also scrapped the government's plans to impose higher taxes on electricity and gas heating, and not replaced it.

The national budget is a government program expressed in figures. In these times of upheaval, these figures are lacking in both Berlin and Paris.

While Barnier can still hope for a regular budget in 2025 despite this defeat, the current minority government in Berlin cannot. At best, a supplementary budget for 2024 could, with opposition support, be passed........

© Deutsche Welle