On Thursday, the Bundestag is to discuss the planned supplementary budget of the traffic light government in a first reading. It is now clear what the amount is: previously unused credit authorizations of 60 billion euros, which were actually intended to combat pandemics, are to be shifted to the energy and climate fund, which will be called the climate and transformation fund in the future. The SPD, the Greens and the FDP agreed on this approach in the coalition negotiations in order to enable investments in climate protection and the transformation of the economy.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) said on Friday that he had already submitted the draft to the cabinet; it should be decided there on Monday. The supplementary budget is “a booster for the economy,” said Lindner. He justified the step by stating that “many necessary investments for the transformation” of the economy were not made in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Time was lost due to the corona pandemic, but that should not “be entirely at the expense of the next generations,” emphasized Lindner. He pointed out that the Federal Constitutional Court had also given up politics to fight the climate crisis in a generational way and with “substantial and concrete measures”.
Lindner, whose party had insisted in the coalition negotiations that the debt brake be adhered to again from 2023, emphasized on Friday that it was not about new, additional loans, but solely about credit authorizations that had not been used so far. He spoke of a “leading decision” by the three coalition partners and a “good draft”. Overall, the net borrowing of a good 240 billion euros planned by his predecessor – the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) – will not be exceeded.
With a view to criticism of the budgetary trick of reallocating pandemic funds to finance investments in the transformation of the economy, the finance ministry said that this approach was in line with the “purpose” of the debt brake. The same procedure had already been followed last year, albeit only with 27 billion euros. Failure to take this step would intensify the corona-related crisis.