Federal Government
Esken: The schedule for the 2024 budget will be clarified soon
“We have a very clear schedule that is very ambitious,” says SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
When will the budget be ready for next year? According to SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken, a schedule can be expected in the coming week.
According to the SPD chairwoman, the traffic light coalition wants to Saskia Esken will soon set the schedule for the adoption of the 2024 federal budget. “That will have to be clarified in the coming week,” said Esken on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner”.
“We have a very clear schedule that is very ambitious. And we very much hope that we can stick to it. If we know that we can stick to it, then we will say so.” The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz called in vain for clarity now as to when the budget should be ready for the coming year.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to be null and void. The money was approved as a Corona loan, but was subsequently intended to be used for climate protection and the modernization of the economy. At the same time, the judges decided that the state was not allowed to set aside emergency loans for later years. That’s exactly what the federal government has done in special funds, among other things, to curb energy prices – which is now tearing additional holes in the budget.
Esken: The crises continue
As a result of this ruling, the adoption of the 2024 federal budget was stopped. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) sees a “need for action” of 17 billion euros. The Bundestag will today discuss a supplementary budget for the current year in first reading. An emergency situation should be declared for him and the debt brake should be suspended. It is still unclear how the traffic light coalition plans to solve the financial problem for the coming year.
Esken emphasized that the crises continue. Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) also said that the burdens from the war in Ukraine would still be present next year. “If you are of the opinion that you want to continue supplying weapons, I think we agree on that, if you are of the opinion that you want to ensure reconstruction, then that is an extraordinary situation.”
CDU leader Merz assumed that declaring the emergency for 2023 “can be done like this”. For 2024, however, he agrees with Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP): “The state does not have an income problem, but rather an expenditure problem.” The traffic lights first have to clarify this among themselves. “With tax revenues of 1,000 billion euros and a federal budget of 445 billion euros, there can be no emergency if you have to save 17 billion euros elsewhere. I believe that it works,” said Merz.