The budget verdict caught the traffic lights off guard. Not all of the consequences can still be foreseen. The coalition draws the conclusion: the budget for the coming year is on hold for the time being.
As a result of the Karlsruhe budget ruling, the traffic light coalition is postponing the decision on the federal budget for 2024. The budget will not be put to a vote in the Bundestag in the coming week, the parliamentary group leaders of the SPD, Greens and FDP announced together on Wednesday. “Our goal is to advise the budget quickly but with the necessary care in order to create planning security,” explained Rolf Mützenich (SPD), Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge (Greens) and Christian Dürr (FDP).
They did not provide any information as to whether a budget resolution would be off the table this year. There will be another regular Bundestag session before the end of the year. If the deadline was shortened in the Federal Council, a decision would theoretically still be possible, but according to the traffic light coalition, it is unlikely.
If there is no budget at the beginning of the year, only expenses that are necessary to maintain administration and fulfill legal obligations are possible. In practice, however, the Ministry of Finance can authorize ministries to use a certain percentage of the funds in the not yet approved draft budget each month.
Traffic light parties: Budget week canceled and postponed
The background for the postponement is the Karlsruhe budget ruling from last Wednesday. The Constitutional Court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to be null and void. The money was approved as a Corona loan, but was subsequently intended to be used for climate protection and the modernization of the economy. Now it is no longer available. At the same time, the judges also decided that the state was not allowed to reserve emergency loans for later years. Instead, an emergency must be declared every year.
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According to experts, this not only has an impact on planned investments from the climate and transformation fund, but also on the special fund for energy price brakes. This year, 37 billion euros have already been paid out from this pot, which were actually not available.
“As parliamentary group leaders of the traffic light factions, we believe it is necessary to carefully take this judgment into account when drawing up the budget for 2024,” explained the SPD, Greens and FDP. Budget week will therefore be canceled and other topics will instead be put on the agenda for next week’s Bundestag session.
Source: Stern
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