Government - CDU wants MV protection fund to be audited by Court of Auditors
Despite the state government's announcement to dissolve the controversial MV Corona Protection Fund ahead of schedule, the CDU is pressing for a legal review of the billion-euro package. The opposition faction sees the recent ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on the reallocation of unneeded corona funds by the federal government as confirmation of its criticism of the financial conduct of the red-red state government. In a submission to the state parliament meeting in mid-December, the CDU requested that the use of funds from the loan-financed MV protection fund be audited by the state court of auditors.
The ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court had made it clear that stricter standards would apply to exceptions to the debt brake. This also applies to the use of loans permitted for dealing with emergencies. A thorough and independent assessment of previous practice is required in order to draw conclusions for the future constitutional application of financial constitutional law in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, according to the reasons for the motion. The paper, signed by parliamentary group leader Franz-Robert Liskow, was also made available to dpa.
Among other things, the CDU/CSU wants to establish whether the MV protection fund, for which loans amounting to 2.85 billion euros were approved, and the use of these funds complied with the constitution and the state's budgetary law. In particular, the creation of special funds for university hospitals and broadband expansion from the protection fund was repeatedly criticized, as these were areas with no direct connection to the coronavirus pandemic.
The State Court of Auditors had already expressed doubts in March 2021 that all coronavirus measures were really related to the pandemic. The president of the state's highest auditing authority, Martina Johannsen, stated that it was questionable that projects were financed with emergency loans that had already been started before the pandemic began. In her opinion, the support for university hospitals from the protection fund is intended to reduce an investment backlog that had already arisen.
The Taxpayers' Association welcomed the CDU initiative to review the MV protection fund. State managing director Sascha Mummenhoff emphasized that the taxpayers' association had criticized the size of the protection fund and the use of the funds from it from the outset. It was therefore right to have the fund examined more closely in light of the current ruling, said Mummenhoff.
However, Minister President Manuela Schwesig (SPD) had already announced that the MV Protection Fund would be dissolved at the end of this year, one year earlier than planned. Instead of the first repayment installment of 270 million euros planned for 2024, 415 million euros of the special loan to overcome the coronavirus crisis were to be repaid next year.
The state parliament had approved credit authorizations amounting to 2.85 billion euros to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system, the economy and society. Schwesig assured that wage subsidies for companies that have not yet been applied for but are permissible or outstanding investments, for example in the digitalization of schools, would be financed from the state's reserves. According to reports, around two billion euros have flowed out of the protection fund so far.
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The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on the reallocation of unneeded corona funds by the federal government has strengthened the CDU's criticism of the financial conduct of the red-red state government in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The CDU has requested the use of funds from the MV protection fund, loan-financed to combat the Coronavirus, be audited by the State Court of Auditors. The CDU/CSU aims to establish whether the MV protection fund and the use of its funds complied with the constitution and the state's budgetary law. The president of the state's highest auditing authority, Martina Johannsen, expressed doubts in March 2021 regarding the correlation of all coronavirus measures with the pandemic and questioned whether projects were financed with emergency loans before the pandemic began. The Taxpayers' Association welcomed the CDU's initiative to review the MV protection fund, as they had criticized its size and use from the outset.
Source: www.stern.de
