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@mhallerberg @faznet You are right, that government can spend more than under black zero. Howver, part of 12bn€ difference to debt brake ceiling of 0.35 % will be used by climate fund that had been missing so far, so that the leeway is below 5bn€. 1/n @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien
@mhallerberg @faznet @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien and your argument about control account is more complex than you make it appear. The gov. cannot just use the surplus from that account to finance spending. At least that is what a legal expertise by the Bundestag staff stated some years ago. 2/n
@mhallerberg @faznet @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien in principle gov could run higher deficits which would afterwarfs be booked on control account, but it would imply using deliberately over-optimistic forecasts for the budget deficit which would then "turn out" to be wrong. 3/n
@mhallerberg @faznet @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien Difficult, when forecasts are given by more or less independent instutions like Gemeinschaftsdiagnose and Arbeitskreis Steuerschätzungen. It would be an option, but not very plausible. 4/n
@mhallerberg @faznet @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien Cyclical adjustment is another issue. Current method completely pro-cyclical (see figure). If slowdown conitues for a while debt brake will prevent automatic stabilisers from working properly, if at all. 5/n
@mhallerberg @faznet @W_Schmidt_ @tom_krebs_ @jsuedekum @SDullien figure below. Summing up: Yes there is some more leeway, but is requires substantial political will to use it and it can be technically complex. The brake is a brake, indeed! /end 
