Budget dispute rekindled: EU calls for clarification before summer break
The dispute over the 2025 state budget was reignited on Thursday as the Federal Ministry of Finance demanded revisions to the agreed draft. The ministry led by the FDP is calling for cuts in consumption expenditures and further "measures to strengthen the accuracy of social spending".
The background to this is expert assessments that have constitutional concerns about the draft that the federal government adopted in July after months of discussions. In particular, it is about adhering to the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law. One reason is that billions of euros still available from the promotional bank KfW, which were originally intended for the gas price brake, are now to be used elsewhere.
Furthermore, doubts arise because subsidies for the Autobahn GmbH are being converted into loans. Since the Autobahn GmbH has no own revenues, it is uncertain whether these loans can be repaid. The scientific advisory board at the Ministry of Finance expresses "significant doubts" as to whether the financial gap of 17 billion euros in the draft budget for 2025 can be reduced to nine billion euros as planned and thus the debt brake can be adhered to.
The Union faction in the Bundestag sees its constitutional concerns confirmed by the two expert opinions. "By August 16, the government must show how it wants to plug the 17-billion hole," said Christian Haase (CDU), the chief whip of the Union faction, to the "Rheinische Post". By August 16, the Ministry of Finance is to formally submit the draft budget to the Bundestag. "Otherwise, the budget negotiations must be postponed," said Haase.
After the parliamentary summer break, the draft budget is to be discussed in the Bundestag and passed there by the end of November. In particular, demands for extensive renegotiations have already come from the factions of the Greens and the SPD.
The Union parliamentarian Braun now emphasized that the government must be united before the negotiations begin. "Detail work makes no sense if the big questions are still open," he wrote on X. Therefore, a solution cannot be expected until November when the budget is to be adopted.
The BMF, led by the FDP, is advocating for cuts in consumption expenditures and implementing additional measures to enhance the precision of social spending, as stated in their demand for revisions to the 2025 state budget. In response to concerns raised by experts and political factions, the BMF is under pressure to address the financial gap of 17 billion euros in the draft budget and ensure compliance with the debt brake.
