Austerity measures
Bundestag approves budget for 2024
Discussions are already underway for the 2025 budget – and they are unlikely to be easy either. There is once again a gap in the core budget alone in the double-digit billion range. photo
© Ann-Marie Utz/dpa
The budget for the current year has pushed the traffic light coalition to its limits. Now the budget has finally been approved in the Bundestag. The opposition says: Saving looks different.
After a delay of several weeks, the Bundestag had the hard-fought vote on Friday Budget approved for the current year. This includes spending of 476.8 billion euros – and initially new loans of around 39 billion euros.
If it stays that way, the debt brake would be adhered to for the first time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic, because the regulation in the Basic Law allows a certain amount of leeway in the event of poor economic expectations. The Federal Council is also expected to give the green light for the budget later today.
The federal budget for 2024 presented the traffic light coalition with a particular challenge. After the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling, billions of dollars in holes suddenly had to be plugged in the core budget and in the climate and transformation fund shortly before the end of the year.
The measures
The SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on a savings program that includes, among other things, a higher ticket tax for passenger flights and the gradual abolition of tax advantages for agricultural diesel for farmers. These measures will be implemented in a separate law – which, however, still has to pass the Federal Council.
State funding for electric cars expired last year, just days after the agreement. There are also stricter rules for citizens’ money.
Criticism from the Union
The opposition still accuses the traffic light government of not saving properly. Although she talks about it, in reality she continues to live beyond the circumstances and especially criticizes the Union. The traffic light wants to spend significantly more money than before the Corona crisis. The Union’s chief budget officer, Christian Haase, also criticized the fact that the budget preparation process could not be surpassed in terms of audacity.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner defended the plans: The coalition was demonstrating “design ambition,” he said. The FDP politician referred to record investments of 70.5 billion euros – for example in rail, roads and networks. At the same time, the tax rate for the population is falling.
Ampel defends the plan
Traffic light householders defended the coalition’s course in parliament. The SPD chief budget officer Dennis Rohde said that internal and external as well as social security would be strengthened. “Consolidation in this country will not take place on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society. That’s why this is a good budget.”
The FDP chief budget officer Otto Fricke said that the debt brake would be adhered to again, the social level of spending would be maintained and the tax rate would fall. In contrast, the Union once again criticized, for example, the planned removal of subsidies for agricultural diesel.
The defense budget is around 52 billion euros, plus billions in funds from the “special fund” for the Bundeswehr. The biggest savings compared to the previous year are in the Ministry of Health because many Corona expenses are eliminated.