household - Brandenburg's Spardo is shrinking - Help from a predicament planned
Brandenburg's Finance Minister Katrin Lange defended the contested move from the state's reserves to secure the aid package for the consequences of the Ukraine war. "This is the cleanest and safest solution," said the SPD politician during the debate on the new supplementary budget. "With this supplementary budget, the general situation in fact will be consumed in a planned and comprehensive manner. That's the price for a crisis management policy that has proven effective and successful in many ways." The opposition views the withdrawals from the reserves critically.
The red-black-green coalition intends to secure the aid package of around 850 million Euro for this year from the reserves and pay for it. According to the Finance Ministry, approximately 1.6 billion Euro were still available at the end of the year 2023. The previously planned supplementary budget for this year foresaw withdrawing 708 million Euro from it. Even if the aid was paid from this, only about 30 million Euro would be left after the state elections in September.
Opposition warns of low reserves
"They are really firing their last bullet in this election campaign in 2024," said AfD fraction leader Hans-Christoph Berndt. He praised the fact that the aid would be paid from the budget instead of over new debts due to a declared state of emergency. The AfD opposes the budget - among other things due to costs for asylum seekers. The leader of the Left fraction, Sebastian Walter, accused the government of "squandering the future because they are exhausting the reserves completely." The spokesperson for the BVB/Free Voters group, Péter Vida, said: "The few coins you leave in the reserves - that's really irresponsible."
With the aid measures, families, hospitals, businesses, and municipalities should be relieved, but also the dependency on fossil and climate-damaging energies should be reduced. The Finance Minister assured citizens the full support from the aid package, even if the aid would no longer be paid for by new debts. None of the already approved measures from the Brandenburg Package should be rolled back, said Lange.
CDU fraction leader: No money for "wish list"
The Constitutional Court of Brandenburg had declared the regulation for the aid package of 2022, following an appeal by the AfD state parliamentary fraction, unconstitutional. However, this did not concern the supplementary budget of 2024. The court demands more explanations for the connection between aid and new debts due to the declared state of emergency. With the supplementary budget, the need to declare a new state of emergency and a better explanation of the measures could be avoided.
CDU fraction leader Jan Redmann sees the supplementary budget as a "turning point in the financial policy of the state." "The era of distributing surpluses and excesses - that's simply over," said Redmann. For "wish list" spending on Pump, there will be no money in the future. The Green fraction leader Benjamin Raschke dismissed criticism from the opposition and said: "We have to provide security." The supplementary budget is not yet passed: Another special session is scheduled in the coming week.
- Katrin Lange, a SPD politician and Brandenburg's Finance Minister, advocatethat withdrawing funds from the state's reserves is the cleanest and safest solution to secure the aid package for the Ukraine war consequences.
- The AfD fraction leader, Hans-Christoph Berndt, criticized the withdrawal, stating it's the last option in the 2024 election campaign.
- Despite the opposition's concerns, the Left fraction leader, Sebastian Walter, accused the government of squandering the future by exhausting the reserves completely.
- The opposition, including representatives from the AfD, CDU, and BVB/Free Voters, has raised concerns about the low reserves, with Péter Vida calling it irresponsible.
- The Constitutional Court of Brandenburg, following an appeal by the AfD state parliamentary fraction, declared the 2022 aid package regulation unconstitutional, but not the 2024 supplementary budget.
- CDU fraction leader Jan Redmann claimed that the 2024 supplementary budget marked a turning point in Brandenburg's financial policy, signaling an end to excess spending or "wish list" allocations for projects like Pump.
