The Federal Ministry of Finance on Monday The budget freeze imposed on the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) was extended to cover almost the entire federal budget. The Reuters news agency and “Spiegel” report this unanimously.
However, the Tagesspiegel learned from ministry circles that all commitment authorizations had been stopped in order to avoid prior burdens for the coming years. Existing liabilities would continue to be met, but no new ones would be allowed to be entered into. In exceptional cases, commitment authorizations could be unblocked.
“In order to avoid further prior burdens for future financial years, I therefore intend to block with immediate effect all commitment authorizations that are still available in individual plans 04 to 17 and 23 to 60 of the 2023 federal budget,” says a letter from Budget State Secretary Werner Gatzer.
Gatzer refers to Section 41 of the Federal Budget Code, which regulates a budget freeze. The individual budgets of all ministries are affected by the individual plans mentioned.
Individual plan 60 includes the climate and transformation fund and the 200 billion euro defense umbrella to curb energy prices. According to the list, constitutional bodies such as the Federal President, the Bundestag, the Bundesrat and the Federal Constitutional Court are excluded.
Karlsruhe had cut 60 billion euros from the traffic light
The Federal Constitutional Court canceled 60 billion euros from the federal government on Wednesdaybecause the transfer of unused Corona loans to the climate fund was unconstitutional. The government now lacks the money.
There are also further clarifications from the court on the debt brake in the Basic Law and the legality of loans, which could also have consequences for the current 2023 budget and the planned 2024 budget. On the day the verdict was announced, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) ordered a budget freeze only for the climate fund.
As a result of the ruling, “the federal budget needs to review the overall financial situation,” writes Gatzer.
After the budget freeze, I can at best hold out the prospect of a release of commitment authorizations (…) requested by the ministries in special individual cases in the event of a need that cannot be denied in terms of fact and time. “A particularly strict standard is applied to prove such a need”. (Tsp, Reuters)