Household - Minister demands clarity from the federal government for environmental projects
Following the budget ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court,Brandenburg's Finance Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) is calling for clarity from the federal government on the consequences for the state. It is still unclear "which projects from the Climate and Transformation Fund or from the Economic Fund that were to be funded in Brandenburg will now not be implemented", she told the state parliament's budget committee in Potsdam on Thursday. "I assume that we will have to wait until there is a draft federal budget for 2024." Programs in the environment, economy and infrastructure ministries could be affected.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the transfer of coronavirus billions from the federal government to the Climate and Transformation Fund - a special fund - to be inadmissible in the 2021 supplementary budget. This means that the fund lacks 60 billion euros in loans. The federal budget for the coming year can no longer be passed before the end of the year in the view of the SPD parliamentary group leadership.
The red-black-green Brandenburg coalition wants to declare an emergency situation for 2024 again next week in order to secure funds from the Brandenburg aid package following the Karlsruhe ruling. The Federal Constitutional Court had referred to the principle of annuality. According to this principle, authorizations for expenditure may only be used until the end of the financial year.
The background: Brandenburg's state parliament had declared an extraordinary emergency for 2023 and 2024 so that up to two billion euros in new debt could be raised via the Brandenburg package to deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine. However, it was not financed from corona funds and is part of the 2023/2024 double budget, benefiting municipalities, hospitals, daycare parents, schools, universities, associations, civil protection and others.
Minister sees a different situation in Brandenburg
The Finance Minister pointed out that the situation in Brandenburg is different to other federal states. There has always been a parallelism between the declaration of emergency, the double budget and the credit authorizations. "We also have no special funds," said Lange on Thursday.
CDU finance politician Steeven Bretz said that measures in the package with a blanket nature of precautionary measures should rather be classified as questionable, but that this was still being examined. Free Voter MP Matthias Stefke asked whether there was a threat of budget freezes. Bretz does not see this as yet.
The Brandenburg coalition had announced a supplementary budget for 2024 for technical changes. The minister said on Thursday that she wanted to ensure that funds for 2023 that could be carried over to 2024 "can then also be continued".
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- Despite the budget judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court, SPD's Katrin Lange, the Finance Minister of Brandenburg, urges clarity from the federal government regarding the impact on environmental projects funded by the Climate and Transformation Fund or the Economic Fund.
- Programs under the environment, economy, and infrastructure ministries in Brandenburg might face adjustments due to the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling, which deemed the transfer of coronavirus billions to the Climate and Transformation Fund inadmissible.
- The Parliamentary Group Leadership of SPD believes that the federal budget for the following year cannot be passed before the end of this year, following the court's declaration.
- To secure funds from the Brandenburg aid package after the Karlsruhe ruling, the red-black-green Brandenburg coalition intends to declare an emergency situation for 2024 next week.
- Minister Katrin Lange mentioned that the situation in Brandenburg differs from other federal states; there's a parallelism between the emergency declaration, the double budget, and the credit authorizations in the state.
- CDU finance politician Steeven Bretz mentioned that precautionary measures in the aid package should be scrutinized, while free Voter Matthias Stefke raised concerns about potential budget freezes.
- The Brandenburg coalition announced a supplementary budget for 2024 to accommodate technical changes; Finance Minister Katrin Lange aims to ensure that funds from 2023 can be carried over to 2024, providing clarity to projects in the state.
Source: www.stern.de
