Does the Chancellery need another building in times of home office – for 800 million euros? The finance minister questions that. A government spokeswoman counters the expenditure already made.
After a push by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit defended a planned new building next to the Chancellery.
Hebestreit said in Berlin that there was a clear decision, which was also issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance in September. The necessary budgetary funds are included in the budget. The pre-construction measures had already begun. The status has not changed. The plans have been in place for many years, have been checked again and again and a decision was made last September.
A spokeswoman for Lindner referred to statements by the minister that projects had to be examined with a view to their usefulness and economic viability and that the state should set a positive example. Of course, this also includes the projects of the Ministry of Finance. There are plans for an extension building for the Ministry of Finance.
Government spokeswoman: Stop would cost over 100 million
Lindner said on Wednesday evening on the ARD program “Maischberger”: “I think that for the 2024 budget we also have to save in the narrower sense of the government.” In times of more home office and location-flexible work, a new building costing at least 800 million euros next to the Chancellery is unnecessary.
A government spokeswoman told the “Tagesspiegel” that the need for a new building remained unchanged. She made it clear that halting the construction of the extension or postponing it would not come for free.
“Essential property, specialist planning, consulting and expert services as well as services for early measures have already been commissioned or are being carried out, so that if these services are terminated at this point in time, more than 100 million euros would probably be incurred.” For a postponement of the construction, the Chancellery calculated additional costs of 40 to 50 million euros per year of the postponement due to the increase in construction prices: “A stop of the project or a rescheduling is not planned for the reasons mentioned.”
The background to Lindner’s initiative is the dispute within the coalition over the budget for the coming year. The planned extension of the Chancellery has long been the subject of criticism.
Source: Stern
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