dispute over state budget - Consultations on household budgets in Saxony-Anhalt are delaying further
Discussions about the budget in Saxony-Anhalt are further delayed. A draft schedule from the Finance Ministry suggests that the budget for the next two years will only be presented to the state parliament in October, according to government sources. Originally, the budget was supposed to be presented to the state parliament in September. "I would have preferred if the September deadline had been met," explained the financial political spokesperson of the co-governing SPD, Andreas Schmidt, in response to a query. "But I also see the problems the state government is having in budget planning. Quality comes before time."
The state government is currently working on a double budget for the years 2025 and 2026, when the next state election is scheduled to take place. However, according to the Finance Ministry, the individual ministries still need to submit savings proposals in order to achieve a balanced budget. Already in previous budget deliberations, there were delays, so that the budget for the year 2023 was only passed in March of the same year.
Opposition fears consequences for grant recipients
The opposition is criticizing the budget deliberations sharply. "That's a disaster," said the financial political spokesperson of The Left, Stefan Gebhardt. If the budget is only presented in October, this would mean in the parliamentary process that it might not be passed until the next year. "For all grant recipients such as associations, associations, municipal institutions or municipalities, this would be a disaster, as they have no planning security."
The Finance Ministry did not want to comment on the exact schedule. "We are currently in the budget preparation process and will present a balanced budget 2025 and 2026 to the state parliament," a spokeswoman of the Finance Ministry shared. The current budget for the year 2024 is around 14 billion Euro.
- Andreas Schmidt, the financial political spokesperson of the co-governing SPD in Saxony-Anhalt, expressed his preference for the September deadline for presenting the state budget, but understood the challenges the government was facing in budget planning.
- The current delays in discussions about the budget in Saxony-Anhalt are causing concern for household consulting firms and individuals, as the presentation of the budget has been pushed back to October.
- The State Ministry of Finance (BMF) in Saxony-Anhalt is urging individual ministries to submit savings proposals to help achieve a balanced budget for the double budget covering 2025 and 2026.
- Andreas Schmidt's comments on the delayed budget presented an opportunity for the politics of speed to be questioned, as he prioritized the quality of the plans over meeting the initial deadline.
- The opposition in parliament, including representatives from The Left, are expressing concerns over the potential consequences for grant recipients, such as associations, municipal institutions, and municipalities, if the budget is not passed until the next year.
