The dispute over possible federal aid payments for the flood disaster in Bavaria in June continues. Now the state parliament Greens are accusing the state government of railing against the traffic lights without even knowing the complete figures. They rely on an answer from the Ministry of the Environment – the Greens had asked in particular which municipalities were affected by the flood. The ministry replied that a complete picture does not currently exist. The State Office for the Environment has been commissioned to submit a detailed report by the beginning of 2025. The main areas of damage were Swabia and western Upper Bavaria.
The state government should therefore “be very quiet with its demands towards the federal government or finally provide substantial evidence that there is a catastrophe of national proportions and that Bavaria is unable to cope with it,” said Green MP Patrick Friedl. “You hardly have any data yourself, but you rail against the traffic lights and make arrogant, unsubstantiated demands in order to distract from your own inability.”
In fact, a government spokeswoman in Berlin recently announced that the federal government was only allowed to provide aid if a disaster of national proportions was identified that overwhelmed the affected countries. The Bavarian state government failed to provide relevant evidence. To date, no such catastrophe has been identified by the federal government.
When asked, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Finance confirmed: “According to current state practice, the federal government can only contribute to the costs of the states in exceptional cases if there is a disaster of national proportions and the affected states would be overwhelmed in dealing with it.” And further: “In order to… To determine a disaster of national proportions, the overall circumstances must be assessed. This also includes, among other things, the immediate effects of a disaster on state budgets.”
Bavaria’s Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU), however, recently calculated that the flood disaster in southern Germany in June caused damage of more than 4.1 billion euros. Bavaria accounted for almost 1.8 billion euros of the uninsured damage. Füracker said that the federal government had “long known in detail” the first preliminary damage figures. The state government has been complaining for some time that there is no help from Berlin. From May 30th to June 11th there were floods in many places in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg as a result of heavy rain.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) – like many other state and federal politicians – visited places that were particularly affected during the disaster. In Bavaria, he pointed to the “practiced practice of solidarity” in Germany and explained that this time too it would be expressed after the acute aid and clean-up work. The state government relies on this – and regularly accuses the Chancellor of breaking his word.