According to consistent media reports, the Ministry of Finance is stopping financial commitments for the coming years. A letter from State Secretary Werner Gatzer to the Federal Chancellor and all ministries is quoted.
Following the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, the Ministry of Finance (BMF) is blocking numerous items in the federal budget. “The BMF is stopping the commitment authorizations in 2023 in order to avoid prior burdens for future years,” said ministry circles on Monday evening. This affects the budgets of all ministries. A commitment authorization gives an administration the opportunity to enter into payment obligations for future years, for example for multi-year projects. Current editions this year are therefore not affected.
It also said that existing liabilities would continue to be met, but that no new ones would be allowed to be entered into. “In exceptional cases, commitment authorizations can be unblocked.”
Budget bans “with immediate effect”
The “Spiegel” quoted from a letter from the responsible State Secretary Werner Gatzer, in which he ordered “all commitment authorizations set out in individual plans 04 to 17 and 23 to 60 of the 2023 federal budget and still available to be blocked with immediate effect.”
Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court declared a reallocation of loans worth 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to be null and void. They were approved to deal with the Corona crisis, but should be used for climate protection and the modernization of the economy. Now the billions in the so-called climate and transformation fund are not available. The federal government had then temporarily put certain projects on hold that were to be financed from the fund. This was about commitment authorizations for 2024 and subsequent years.
Source: Stern
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