After the Constitutional Court declared the financing of special funds to be unconstitutional, the government must present a supplementary budget. Experts were questioned about the draft budget in the Budget Committee today.
The supplementary budget for the coming year is on the table – but is it constitutional? Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is certain: “The vast majority of experts who have now commented on the supplementary budget for 2023 confirm the path.”
In fact, a majority of the experts who commented on the supplementary budget in the Budget Committee supported the federal government’s proposal. For the Berlin constitutional lawyer Alexander Thiele, there is no alternative to declaring an emergency situation for 2023. After the constitutional judges’ ruling on the unconstitutional financing of special funds, the traffic light has no other choice. “After the loan authorizations are no longer applicable retroactively, the retroactive declaration of this emergency situation is also permitted in exceptional cases,” said Thiele. “In this respect, I fully share the view that this supplementary budget is not only constitutional, but downright constitutionally necessary.”
Legal risks
The war in Ukraine and the consequences of the Ahr Valley flood: Heidelberg financial law professor Hanno Kube also understands the reasons given for the subsequently declared budget emergency. Kube nevertheless recognizes a few legal risks in the Federal Finance Minister’s draft budget. “There are individual elements of the justification that are not sustainable,” says Kube. “They relate to permanent financing requirements, which relate to growth and thus to the economic component. But overall, from a constitutional perspective, I think the justification is justifiable.”
The Federal Audit Office, however, has fundamentally criticized the system of the supplementary budget. Declaring an emergency now at the end of the year is legally questionable, warn the budget auditors. And when it comes to the question of how high the net borrowing is, the government does not take into account the financial needs of several special funds, the Court of Auditors states. That is not correct.
Funding gap significantly higher?
Economics professor Fritz Söllner also comes to the conclusion that the financing gap is significantly higher than stated by the federal government: “In my opinion, the supplementary budget is not constitutional and does not correspond to the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court, as the actual debt is stated to be far too low. “
In fact, the deficit is almost 130 billion euros instead of 70 billion euros, Söllner calculates. The usual practice of when the Ministry of Finance records loans taken out over time also remains controversial among experts.
The Bundestag wants to pass the supplementary budget next week. However, it remains unclear when the updated budget for the coming year will reach parliament. There are billions more gaps in its financing.
Michael Weidemann, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, December 5th, 2023 5:05 p.m