New audit report: Court of Auditors criticizes climate policy

According to the Federal Audit Office, the outgoing government has not used money in the right place in climate policy. Elsewhere, too, the auditors complain about wasting taxpayers’ money.

The “remarks” of the Federal Audit Office are particularly thick this year. On 300 pages, the auditors from Bonn listed where they discovered tax money wasted at the federal government. In the pandemic, every euro has to be included, says Federal Audit Office President Kay Scheller. He has a huge number in mind: 470 billion euros – the federal government is expected to take on that much new debt because of the Corona. Anyone who takes so much money into their hands has to budget very carefully.

Many places in job center programs remained free

The current report shows that this does not work in many places. The examiners compiled 39 cases, often from their home office due to the pandemic. The labor market measures of the job centers and employment agencies make up a large item. The fact that participant places often remained free led to an estimated loss of 357 million euros in one year. At the same time, the federal government is losing a billion euros because the family benefits offices do not fully reclaim child benefit that has been paid too much.

In comparison, the damage caused by electronic mail from the authorities appears rather small. Administration and citizens should communicate with each other digitally and in a legally secure manner, but they do not. Cost so far: 6.5 million euros.

Concerns about traffic light financing plans

The Federal Audit Office expresses clear criticism of the federal government’s climate policy and sustainability strategy. “What does profitability mean in 2021? That means that the objects and equipment procured must be adapted to the climate and become more climate-neutral,” said Scheller. “That’s why I have to think about climate protection when it comes to profitability.” But the Federal Ministry of Transport, for example, did not invest 124 million in the rail expansion as planned. The money from the funding program was misappropriated for highways and airports.

The Federal Ministry of Economics has provided 9.5 billion for energy-saving programs, but it does not check what the measures will bring. And the Bundeswehr wants to convert its civilian vehicle fleet more and more to electric cars, but it is far behind its plans. “The CO2 emissions of this fleet are simply too high, and now there is simply a demand that the federal government better meet the goals it has set itself,” said Scheller.

Focus, concentrate and prioritize?

The Bonn auditors are excited to see how the new federal government’s budget discipline will look. The President of the Court of Auditors, Scheller, praised the fact that the debt brake should apply again in 2023. But where the money for pensions, climate protection and the energy transition should come from is unclear. “Here it will be very interesting what the budget consultations will reveal in the spring: Which subsidies should be abolished, which tax breaks can no longer be given in the future to finance other things,” said Schellers. His advice to the traffic light parties is: focus, concentrate and prioritize. Because money is not there for everything.