Last week Finance Minister Lindner called an expansion of the Chancellery “dispensable”. Now he takes on his own project. A conscious austerity signal to the cabinet colleagues?
After criticism of the planned expansion of the Chancellery, Finance Minister Christian Lindner is now putting plans for a new building next to his own ministry on hold. According to the Ministry of Finance, the planning for the extension will be “reviewed with the aim of revising it”.
In the “Bild” newspaper, the FDP leader outlined his alternative idea: “We lack affordable housing. It therefore makes little sense to use the scarce space for new ministries. Instead, we will now check whether living space can be created here can.”
The planning for an expansion of the Ministry of Finance on Berlin’s Wilhelmstraße has been underway since 2019. The construction is currently in the design phase. According to information from the Ministry of Finance, planning costs of around 35 million euros have been incurred so far. “For the construction work itself, another 600 to 800 million euros would be needed,” said a spokeswoman.
Examination not yet completed
Lindner had already arranged for the project to be reviewed last week. In the event of a change, it may also be possible to fall back on the previous preparatory measures. “The test has been started but not yet completed,” said the spokeswoman.
Also last week, the Finance Minister questioned an extension to the Chancellery, for which construction preparations have already begun. As an argument, he argued that since the Corona crisis, significantly more people have wanted to work from home or mobile than before. In the Ministry of Finance, for example, there are already 65 percent “flexible working locations”. It follows that office space can be used differently and also limited.
The background is the coalition’s budget dispute and Lindner’s verdict that the federal government has a spending problem. “We have to get out of debt. I’m also considering desirable but not necessary projects,” he told the “Bild”. This also includes the planned new building of the Ministry of Finance.
The building was actually supposed to be built from 2025 and centrally accommodate employees who are currently working at six other locations in the capital. The planning was commissioned by the then Minister of Finance and today’s Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. According to the plans of the Berlin architectural office Staab, an energy-efficient building with lots of wood should be created.
At the Chancellery, Lindner’s initiative to stop the construction project there met with little approval. The need remains unchanged, it said. In addition, cancellation or postponement would not be available for free.
Essential planning and consulting services as well as preparations have already been commissioned or carried out, so that costs of more than 100 million euros are expected to be incurred. In the event of a postponement, the increase in construction costs would result in additional costs of 40 to 50 million euros per year.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
