Household - Court of Auditors: Thuringian Corona Energy Relief Fund permissible
According to a preliminary assessment by the Thuringian Court of Audit, the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court on a special federal fund worth billions has no impact on Thuringia in one main aspect. Unlike at federal level, there has been no comparable reallocation of loan-financed corona aid funds, said a spokesperson for the Court of Audit in response to a dpa inquiry in Rudolstadt. The Court of Audit had always pointed out that such a reallocation would be inadmissible under constitutional law.
The Ministry of Finance had followed this advice, so that there had been a strict separation between corona and energy aid funds in the Thuringian special fund.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared it unconstitutional that the coalition government originally wanted to use loans taken out due to the consequences of the pandemic to combat the energy crisis. The court thus made it clear that the state may not spend loan-financed funds that were earmarked for one purpose for another at will.
Special fund in Thuringia from 2020
In Thuringia, a special fund entitled the "Thuringian Pandemic Relief Fund" was set up in 2020 in response to an emergency. According to the Court of Audit, the fund initially received 695 million euros in loans. At the beginning of 2022, a further 82 million euros were then made available from the state budget.
With the onset of the energy crisis, this special fund was then expanded in the course of 2022 so that energy aid funds could also be paid out from it. It was then called the "Thuringian Energy Crisis and Corona Pandemic Aid Fund". According to the Court of Audit, another 350 million euros were added to this special fund as part of this expansion. These funds were also not loan-financed. "In the Court of Audit's view, the energy crisis chapter of the special fund is therefore not affected by the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court," said the spokesperson.
In addition, according to the Court of Audit's opinion, the credit-financed 695 million euros from 2020 have been used in full for measures to counter the consequences of the coronavirus crisis since the end of 2022. "In contrast to the situation in the federal government, to the Court of Audit's knowledge there are currently no loan-financed funds from 2020 in the special fund."
Questions still unanswered
In the opinion of the financial auditors in Rudolstadt, however, it is still unclear whether there may have been a breach of the budgetary principles of annuality and annuality in the handling of this special fund. The Federal Constitutional Court also criticized such a violation in its ruling on the federal finances.
Put simply, these budgetary principles mean that loans taken out in an emergency situation may only be used until the end of the year in which this emergency situation actually exists.
In principle, the State Court of Audit is still in the process of assessing the exact impact of the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling. All current statements on this are therefore "only an initial assessment", said the spokesperson.
Court of Audit: verdict expected
All in all, however, the ruling of Germany's highest court was foreseeable for the audit offices of the federal states and the federal government - unlike for large parts of federal and state politics. "In principle, the standards set by the Federal Constitutional Court were not at all surprising from the Court of Audit's point of view, as the audit offices of the federal states and the federal government had repeatedly pointed out very similar aspects at an early stage." In addition, there had previously been comparable court decisions in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. "Ultimately, however, the Court of Audit welcomes this very clear clarification by the Federal Constitutional Court and sees its legal opinion confirmed," it said.
Read also:
- The Thuringian Court of Audit noted that the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on a federal fund has no significant impact on Thuringia's Corona Energy Relief Fund due to the strict separation of corona and energy aid funds in the state.
- In 2020, Thuringia established a special fund, the "Thuringian Pandemic Relief Fund," receiving an initial 695 million euros in loans, followed by an additional 82 million euros from the state budget at the beginning of 2022.
- The energy crisis expansion of the fund in 2022 added another 350 million euros, and the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling does not impact the energy crisis chapter of the fund, as these funds were not loan-financed.
- The Court of Audit in Thuringia is still investigating if there were any breaches in budgetary principles during the handling of this special fund, as loan-taken funds can only be used until the end of the year in which the emergency situation exists.
- The BMF (Ministry of Finance) followed the advice provided by the Court of Audit, ensuring a clear separation between corona and energy aid funds within the Thuringian special fund, and the Federal Constitutional Court's judgment was foreseeable to the audit offices due to their earlier findings and past court decisions in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Source: www.stern.de
