Budget will not be adopted this year
The German government's plan to pass the 2024 budget in the current year has failed. According to information from ntv, there will be no special session of the Bundestag. However, a political agreement should at least be reached before the end of the year.
Following the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on compliance with the debt brake, the coalition government will no longer be able to pass a budget for 2024 in the current year. Although the government made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP had planned to do so, according to information from parliamentary group circles at ntv, they have now had to abandon the plan. Because a political agreement on the compensation of around 17 billion euros in the core budget is still pending, the Budget Committee can no longer deal with an adjustment bill in time, which the Bundestag could have passed in a special session before the end of the year.
At the very least, however, the committee's clean-up meeting should be held in the week before Christmas. The Bundestag could then pass the budget in the second week of January. The Bundesrat must then give its approval. Until then, provisional budget management applies, in which the Federal Minister of Finance must approve previously unagreed expenditure by the federal ministries separately.
The gap in the 2024 budget was created because the federal government had to adopt a supplementary budget for the current year in the wake of the debt brake ruling. This in turn reduced the financial leeway for the following year by around 17 billion euros. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck are negotiating how the resulting gap can be closed. In addition to the core budget, they are also discussing the climate and transformation fund. According to information from ntv, there is currently a shortfall of 12 billion for expenditure that was planned for next year. The Federal Constitutional Court had declared credit authorizations of 60 billion euros, which were to flow into the KTF, null and void.
+++ more information coming soon +++
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- Numerous oil, gas and coal lobbyists at climate conference
- COP28: Emirates announce fund for climate projects
- Despite the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the debt brake compliance, the traffic light coalition, composed of the SPD, Greens, and FDP, is currently negotiating with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, and Economics Minister Robert Habeck to close the budget gap of around 17 billion euros in the 2024 budget.
- The Federal Constitutional Court's nullification of credit authorizations amounting to 60 billion euros, intended for the climate and transformation fund (KTF), has led to a 12-billion-euro shortfall in the planned expenditure for the next year.
- The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling against the debt brake compliance caused the German government to adopt a supplementary budget for the current year, which in turn reduced the budgetary policy leeway for the following year by around 17 billion euros, making it impossible for the Federal Constitutional Court to pass the 2024 budget in the current year.
Source: www.ntv.de
