{"version":"1.9","identifier":"a044d2f5-edd9-4ae0-b7ce-cedf97db5dd3","language":"en-US","title":"Germany's coalition splits over plastic tax days before final 2027 budget session","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/germany-plastic-packaging-tax-frei-miersch-schneider-2027-budget-clean-up-session-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-09T20:25:52.950952Z","dateModified":"2026-11-09T20:26:14.098535Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Union leader Frei says 'we are not doing' the 550-euro-a-ton levy. The SPD says it is not off the table and wants the Union to say how to fill the gap by Thursday.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/a044d2f5-edd9-4ae0-b7ce-cedf97db5dd3/09898c5adeb7bf4119b4819cb8e0f5c7.jpg","keywords":["de"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Germany's coalition splits over plastic tax days before final 2027 budget session","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Union leader Frei says 'we are not doing' the 550-euro-a-ton levy. The SPD says it is not off the table and wants the Union to say how to fill the gap by Thursday.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 9, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/a044d2f5-edd9-4ae0-b7ce-cedf97db5dd3/09898c5adeb7bf4119b4819cb8e0f5c7.jpg","caption":"Thorsten Frei (CDU), now leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, in 2023. File photo. · Dr. Frank Gaeth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"Thorsten Frei (CDU), now leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, in 2023. File photo.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Thorsten Frei (CDU), now leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, in 2023. File photo. · Dr. Frank Gaeth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Germany's governing coalition is split over a planned tax on plastic packaging three days before the Bundestag's budget committee meets to finalize the 2027 federal budget. Thorsten Frei, who leads the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, said on Sunday: \"We are not doing the plastic tax.\" His Social Democratic counterpart, Matthias Miersch, said the measure is \"not off the table.\" On Monday, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider of the SPD said the Union must now propose how to fill the hole in the budget if the tax is dropped.\n\nThe budget committee's final \"clean-up session\" (Bereinigungssitzung) is set for Thursday, November 12, a Finance Ministry spokesperson told reporters on Monday. At that session, budget lawmakers make the last changes to the 2027 budget before the full Bundestag votes on it.\n\n## What the plastic tax would do\n\nUnder a preliminary draft based on a cabinet decision in July, companies would pay 550 euros for every ton of plastic in packaging from July 2027, [tagesschau reported](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/plastiksteuer-absage-100.html). The aim is to cut plastic waste.\n\nThe tax is tied to an EU requirement. So far, Germany has paid the related costs out of the federal budget. The plan was to pass that cost on to plastic manufacturers, [Deutschlandfunk reported](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/umweltminister-schneider-kann-sich-verzicht-auf-plastiksteuer-vorstellen-106.html).\n\nFinance Minister Lars Klingbeil of the SPD has already counted the money in his plans. The budget expects 805 million euros in extra revenue in 2027 and almost 1.5 billion euros a year from 2028, according to a dpa report [carried by news.de](https://www.news.de/politik/860170471/unionsfraktionschef-frei-plastiksteuer-machen-wir-nicht-berlin-news-der-dpa-aktuell-zu-haushalt-bundesregierung-und-chemie/1/). Deutschlandfunk and tagesschau put the relief for next year's budget at about 670 million euros. The reports did not explain the gap between the two figures.\n\n## Frei: \"economically and ecologically wrong\"\n\nFrei spoke on ZDF's \"Berlin direkt\" program on Sunday evening. \"We are not doing the plastic tax, because it would have a wrong effect, not only economically but also ecologically,\" the CDU politician said, according to tagesschau. Tagesschau said the Union had raised doubts for weeks about whether the tax could be carried out as planned. It added that doubts about the tax's effect, given the paperwork it would require, exist even inside the SPD.\n\nFrei backed other planned tax increases. He said revenue from a tax on sugary drinks would go to the health fund to ease pressure on statutory health insurance. He said the alcohol tax would also rise: \"That is fine, the way it has been designed and done so far.\" The tobacco tax increase has already been passed, he said. Tagesschau noted that the CSU had called for a later start for the higher alcohol tax and an end to plans to raise the tax on sparkling wine.\n\nThe sugar tax is not settled either. ARD's capital studio reported that more than a dozen Union lawmakers had signed a list against a tax on sugary drinks, and that the Union wants to delay its start by six months, to January 1, 2028, [according to tagesschau](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/haushalt-steuerplaene-bundesregierung-100.html). Frei said the sugar tax would have a steering effect, meaning people would likely consume less sugar.\n\n## Miersch: a draft exists, and talks continue\n\nSPD group leader Miersch was more cautious on ARD's \"Bericht aus Berlin.\" \"There is a first draft, and in that sense it is all not off the table,\" he said. He said such a tax must have a steering effect. \"But of course, as parliamentarians, we have a duty to look at whether all of this is going in the right direction, and so we are discussing it too.\"\n\nAsked whether the project would be postponed, Miersch said talks were still going on. \"That there are doubts there is public. So let's see where we end up,\" he said, according to dpa. Tagesschau said CDU finance expert Middelberg had spoken in similar terms.\n\n## Schneider: the Union must say how to fill the gap\n\nOn Monday morning, Schneider told Deutschlandfunk that the Union had an obligation to come up with alternatives. \"Sound financial policy, especially in these years and these days, is crucial, and so the Union also has an obligation to make other proposals,\" he said, [tagesschau reported](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/diskussion-plastiksteuer-100.html). By Thursday, he said, the Union must offer ideas on \"how they close the hole in the budget that we have.\"\n\n\"The plastic tax was an agreement from the coalition committee in the spring and served both ecological steering and, above all, securing our budget,\" Schneider said. Deutschlandfunk said he could accept dropping the tax. If CDU and CSU reject it outright, that must be taken very seriously, he said. But they would then have to say how to make up the lost revenue.\n\nHis ministry repeated that line at the federal government press conference. A reporter recalled Schneider's estimate that dropping the tax would cost 800 million euros next year and 1.5 billion euros from the year after. Ministry spokesperson Zimmermann said: \"His proposal is on the table. If it is not wanted, a plan B must come from another side. It is not our job now to organize a replacement for our own proposal,\" according to the [FragDenStaat transcript](https://fragdenstaat.de/pressekonferenzen/regierungspressekonferenz-vom-09-11-2026/).\n\nA reporter then asked the Environment Ministry to explain why the tax would make ecological sense. Zimmermann declined to go into detail because talks were ongoing. He said the ministry had set out the case for the tax publicly in recent days and weeks.\n\n## The chancellery: \"We will find a solution\"\n\nDeputy government spokesperson Meyer did not say whether Chancellor [Friedrich Merz](https://567politics.com/politicians/friedrich-merz) supports the plastic tax. \"Our goal is to present a constitutional budget,\" he said. He said talks were continuing, especially between the parliamentary groups, which he said are \"in charge of the process\" on the budget. \"We as the federal government are contributing, and over the next few days and until the clean-up session we will find a solution,\" he said.\n\nHe said a constitutional budget matters because it secures what he called political priorities \"cast in finances\" for the coming year. He named investment, budget consolidation and further structural reform as the government's focus.\n\nAsked again whether Merz wants to keep the tax or delay it, Meyer said intensive talks were under way. He said anyone who wants to change items must find matching funding or other changes \"so that it fits together in the end and the budget is constitutional.\"\n\nAsked whether the Union would have to tap reserves if the tax fails, Finance Ministry spokesperson Ernoult called the question hypothetical. \"I would not want to pre-empt parliament,\" the spokesperson said, adding that the government was still discussing individual points.\n\n## The electricity tax adds pressure\n\nThe plastic tax dispute comes as Merz pushes for a broad cut in the electricity tax. Cutting the tax for everyone would cost the federal government about 5 billion euros a year and save the average German household roughly 5 to 10 euros a month, tagesschau reported. Last week Merz said a cut for all now takes priority, as [567politics reported](https://567politics.com/news/germany-merz-electricity-tax-cut-priority-2027-budget-november-2026).\n\nAsked on Monday whether Merz still thinks a cut at the start of 2027 is possible, Meyer said those talks were taking place now. \"The political will is clearly there,\" he said. Fritz Güntzler, the Union group's finance spokesman, told ARD: \"Since the chancellor has set this out, I am fairly sure that we will find a way.\"\n\nReporters also asked whether lower spending on renewable energy support could free up money. The Finance Ministry said the cost of that support depends heavily on wholesale power prices. It said the July draft budget sets aside 16.5 billion euros for it, and it would not speculate on possible savings. An Economy Ministry spokesperson said a bill to reform the Renewable Energy Sources Act, now before the Bundestag, aims to lower system costs over time.\n\n## How the budget got here\n\nMeyer described the dispute as part of the normal end game. \"We started many months ago with a really very, very large gap,\" he said. \"That means we already have a longer process behind us and are now close to really concluding it with a decision in parliament.\"\n\n\"It is quite clear that in the last hours and days before concluding such a really challenging budget, which will move our country forward in many areas, there are simply intense discussions,\" he said. \"I think that is normal and also right.\"\n\nTagesschau described the final days differently, as a period of bargaining in which some players block, some undermine and some try to tear things down again. Güntzler told ARD: \"We still have a few construction sites there.\"\n\n## Where the main tax items stand\n\nBased on Sunday's and Monday's statements, as reported by tagesschau, dpa and Deutschlandfunk:","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Measure</th><th>Plan</th><th>Status as of November 9</th></tr><tr><td>Plastic packaging tax</td><td>550 euros per ton from July 2027</td><td>Frei says no; Miersch says not off the table; Schneider asks Union for alternatives</td></tr><tr><td>Sugary drinks tax</td><td>Revenue to the health fund</td><td>Frei backs it; Union seeks start on January 1, 2028; some Union MPs oppose</td></tr><tr><td>Alcohol tax</td><td>Increase planned</td><td>Frei says it is fine as designed; CSU sought later start</td></tr><tr><td>Sparkling wine tax</td><td>Increase planned</td><td>CSU called for dropping it</td></tr><tr><td>Tobacco tax</td><td>Increase</td><td>Already passed, Frei says</td></tr><tr><td>Electricity tax</td><td>Cut for all sought by Merz, about 5 billion euros a year</td><td>Talks ongoing; government says the political will is there</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"## The coalition\n\nThe [CDU](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/cdu), its Bavarian sister party the [CSU](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/csu) and the [SPD](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/spd) govern together. 567politics did not find statements by the opposition Greens, AfD or Left on the plastic tax dispute by publication time.\n\n## What to watch\n\nThe key date is Thursday's clean-up session. The open questions are whether the plastic tax survives, is delayed or is replaced, what fills the gap if it goes, whether the sugar tax start moves to 2028, and whether an electricity tax cut for all households is funded for 2027. For how 567politics reports on budget figures that differ between sources, see our [editorial standards](https://567politics.com/editorial-standards).","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}