Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has rejected Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) proposal to increase the legal minimum wage to 15 euros.
The FDP chairman told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Wednesday) that it was legitimate for the Chancellor to also be active as an election campaigner. “The coalition agreement for this legislative period clearly stipulates that wage determination is not a matter for the parties.” In the long run, it would be dangerous for jobs if politics got involved here.
The SPD is constantly making proposals that do not fit into the coalition agreement for this legislative period, said Lindner. “The only new thing is that the Chancellor is now involved. I hope that this will put an end to the SPD’s feigned outrage when the FDP presents its own ideas.”
Scholz had spoken out in favor of increasing the minimum wage initially to 14 euros and then to 15 euros. The lower wage limit has been 12.41 euros since the beginning of 2024, and a further increase of 41 cents is planned for the beginning of 2025 in accordance with the minimum wage commission set by employers and unions last year. In recent weeks, calls for a minimum wage of 15 euros have been increasing from the ranks of the SPD, the Greens and the trade unions. With the Chancellor’s involvement in setting the minimum wage, Scholz is breaking for the second time the promise that the Social Democrats made when introducing the minimum wage: no politically determined lower wage limit. More on this in the video above.