Finances - Baden-Württemberg has its own budget policy reviewed
In view of the federal budget crisis, Baden-Württemberg is also having its own financial policy legally reviewed. This was reported by the "Badische Zeitung" (Tuesday), citing Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz. "We want to ensure external, critical legal support so that we have legal certainty in the future," the Green politician told the newspaper. The reason for this is the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the federal budget.
Unlike the federal government, the state had not misappropriated any emergency loans from the coronavirus pandemic, Bayaz told the newspaper. However, the judges in Karlsruhe had also ruled that such loans could only be used in the financial year for which the emergency was declared. Baden-Württemberg had also used credit authorizations against corona in 2022 - to combat the consequences of the pandemic. According to the Ministry of Finance, testing and vaccination measures, for example, had to be carried out and financed over the course of the year.
According to Bayaz, the expert opinion should now clarify whether the emergency situation must be declared anew each time for such use and whether the determination also applies to other credit authorizations. The financial and tax law expert Hanno Kube from the University of Heidelberg is to be commissioned for the expert opinion. It is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
"We don't have to reverse anything," assured Minister President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) in Stuttgart on Tuesday. "We have done everything to the best of our knowledge and belief." Nor did he feel that he had been caught out. There is also no question of money having to be repaid.
However, the head of government said that the budgetary practice would be voluntarily reviewed in case it had to be modified for the future. The so-called one-year period is not included in the state constitution. They would check whether this made sense - and amend the constitution if necessary. "Basically, it is clear that crises do not adhere to calendar years."
Kube is a renowned constitutional lawyer in such matters and, together with the CDU, had taken legal action against the federal supplementary budget before the Federal Constitutional Court, said Kretschmann.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the reallocation of corona loans to a fund for climate protection and the modernization of the economy null and void. At the same time, the judges ruled that the state may not set aside emergency loans for later years. This tears a billion-euro gap in the planning for the coming year - and in the financing of long-term projects in the coming years.
The impact of the BVG ruling and the federal budget crisis on the state is not yet clear, said Kretschmann. However, it is clear that the state cannot replace missing funds from the federal government from the state budget in the case of mixed financing.
The FDP parliamentary group criticized Finance Minister Bayaz's approach. The state government had taken on 7.2 billion euros in debt in 2020 under the emergency regulations, but had only spent just over 4 billion by the end of the year and the rest in subsequent years. However, it had no longer declared an emergency and had violated the principle of annuality. "Getting confirmation of what we have known for a long time is an expensive game of chicken. When will the Prime Minister explain how he intends to deal with this?"
"Legal clarifications are necessary so that the public sector has planning security," said Kai Burmeister, Chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation in the state. "Climate neutrality, the necessary restructuring of industry and social cohesion are a task of the century." This would require enormous additional investment. Burmeister spoke out in favor of special funds in this context.
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Source: www.stern.de
