Government
Supplementary budget 2023 on the way
In the lobby of the Federal Council, which is normally well filled during meetings but is now empty, Florian Toncar (FDP)’s speech at the special meeting of the German Federal Council on the government’s draft for a supplementary budget for 2023 can be seen on a screen. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
After the Karlsruhe budget verdict, the federal government has several construction sites. There is progress in repairing the 2023 budget. The 2024 budget, on the other hand, will be a test of patience.
There is still no solution in sight for the 2024 budget, but at least the repair of the current budget is making progress. On Thursday the Federal Council let the The supplementary budget for 2023 will pass in first reading. This also involves the renewed suspension of the debt brake. Both can now be decided in the Bundestag next week.
With the supplementary budget, the federal government wants to legally secure funds that have already been paid out, particularly for gas and electricity price caps and flood relief. It’s about 45 billion euros, which was financed from loans.
Since the Karlsruhe budget ruling, it has been clear that the federal government should not have taken out these loans without further ado. They were approved in 2021 and 2022, when the debt brake was suspended due to the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine. The traffic light government had planned to use the money in 2023 and 2024. However, the Karlsruhe judges decided that the federal government was not allowed to set aside emergency loans for later years. Without the supplementary budget, there would have been a risk of a constitutional breach in the 2023 budget.
The state chamber declined to expressly comment on the plans. They were then decided in the Budget Committee. The next step is the final reading next Thursday in the Bundestag.
Still no solution for the 2024 budget
This should solve the first major problem that arose from the Karlsruhe budget ruling. The highest German court had declared a budget reshuffle to be null and void. This means that not only 60 billion euros are missing, which were planned over four years for climate protection projects and the modernization of the economy. The judge’s ruling also affected various loan-financed special funds. There is a gap of 17 billion euros in the budget for next year.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) have still not found a solution to this. On Wednesday they discussed again until late in the evening. It now seems unlikely that the budget for 2024 can be passed in all instances, including the Federal Council, before the end of the year. In coalition circles it is pointed out that the members of the Bundestag must be given enough time to examine the proposals from the traffic light leadership. The SPD will also meet for its three-day federal party conference from Friday – Scholz is scheduled to speak there on Saturday.
Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig urged the government to speed up. There needs to be clarity quickly as to how the federal government wants to shape the budget for the coming year, said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s SPD Prime Minister. “The local citizens are waiting for this, and the economy in particular is waiting for this.” It is time for the traffic light government to present its proposal now so that the unrest and uncertainty are over.
Klingbeil confident
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil expects “political clarification” this year. After an agreement between the top trio, there would still have to be a coalition committee. “In the end it is clear that the three cannot decide that, but that the parties and the parliamentary groups have to decide together with the government,” emphasized Klingbeil in the ARD program “maischberger”.
SPD budget politician Andreas Schwarz told the Bavarian media group newspapers that he believed “that it boils down to a provisional budget.” This means that the budget will not be decided until the new year – then a provisional budget would apply at the beginning of January and only necessary expenses would be allowed. “All I know is that there will be calm between December 24th and 26th. How things will continue is still open,” said Schwarz.
In addition to a renewed exemption from the debt brake, cuts in various areas are being discussed. Lindner emphasized that subsidies must be examined for their benefits. “But it is not uncommon for people to talk about supposed privileges in order to then put a burden on the working population,” he told “Wirtschaftswoche”.
“Let’s first see where the state can make better use of the money it has and achieve its goals more efficiently. This particularly applies to the enormous increase in social spending,” emphasized the FDP leader. The money must be used more effectively there. “We have to get more people into work who are now claiming citizen’s benefit.”