BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s governing coalition has agreed on a basic child allowance, with additional expenditures of about 2.4 billion euros initially from 2025, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the centre-left SPD, family minister Lisa Paus of the Greens and finance minister Christian Lindner of the liberal FDP reached an agreement after a meeting late Sunday, ending a dispute that was blocking government initiatives.
Earlier this month, the German cabinet failed to agree on passing the Growth Opportunities Act, a programme of corporate tax relief worth billions of euros, as wrangling in Scholz’s three-way coalition continued.
The talks stumbled on demands by Paus to raise spending on child support in tandem with additional tax benefits for companies.
The compromise clears the way for Lindner’s planned tax relief for business, ahead of a cabinet retreat in Meseberg, Brandenburg, that begins on Tuesday.
Paus said in a press conference on Monday that the law would be passed on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Holger Hansen, Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer. Writing by Maria Martinez, Editing by Friederike Heine)
