Opposition criticizes budget - Black-Red opposes it

Financial policy - Opposition criticizes budget - Black-Red opposes it

In the general debate in the Berlin House of Representatives on the double budget for 2024/2025, Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) defended the Senate's budget policy. "The greater the uncertainty, the more important orientation, reliability and stability are. That is exactly what this coalition stands for," Wegner said in the state parliament on Thursday.

The CDU politician pointed out that the black-red coalition was focusing on greater internal security and that the budget would enable the police and fire department to be better equipped. "The time of ignoring problems, looking the other way and playing things down is over. There will be tasers, bodycams, firefighting robots and drones," said Wegner. "We are giving the emergency services what they need." The judiciary and public prosecutor's office should also be strengthened with more posts.

Wegner rejected criticism from the Greens that the Senate was not making progress on transport policy. "They have left us with a lot of clean-up work. We will have to deal with this for some time to come." Progress will also be made on the issue of security for Görlitzer Park. The Governing Mayor assured that the fence he had announced would be built. So far, the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district has clearly spoken out against it.

Green Party parliamentary group leader Bettina Jarasch criticized the Senate for an "announcement budget that promises everything to everyone, uses up the city's last financial reserves and will nevertheless result in an orgy of cuts and social cuts". The CDU and SPD wanted to distribute money that was not actually there.

Left Party parliamentary group leader Carsten Schatz said that the budget was an expression of a policy of bad checks. Billions in expenditure were not financed at all and it was unclear how savings targets were to be implemented. AfD parliamentary group leader Kristin Brinker called the double budget a fiscal explosive device that could destroy Berlin's future. Among other things, Brinker criticized the fact that all reserves would be used up and a lot of money would be spent on "all-round care" for refugees.

CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner, on the other hand, spoke of a responsible budget. The coalition is focusing on housing and school construction, better equipment for the police, fire department and emergency services, investment in local public transport and reasonable pay for state employees. Another focus is social cohesion in the city, and a lot of money is also being invested in the fight against anti-Semitism.

SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh expressed a similar view: "This budget is a budget for the future and one with a clear message: we must and will maintain social peace in this city, especially in difficult times." Especially in times of multiple crises, it is important to ensure cohesion in the city. The budget does justice to this and there are no social cuts. However, Saleh also said: "With this budget, we are initiating a smart consolidation phase for Berlin's finances."

The double budget, which was to be passed in parliament this evening, has a volume of 39.3 billion euros for 2024 and 40.5 billion euros for 2025. Expenditure has never been this high. A large item is allocations to the districts (around 11 billion euros each), with a particularly large amount of money also going towards personnel and investments.

As the debt brake applies, the budget will not be financed by new loans. Instead, certain reserves will be used up - which will then no longer be available in the future. Against this backdrop, it is the declared aim of the black-red coalition to significantly reduce the budget volume, which has grown significantly in recent years due to coronavirus and other crises, from 2026.

A first step in this direction will be the so-called flat-rate reduction in spending, which has been criticized by the opposition: Expenditure of around 1.9 billion euros must be cut in the current budget in 2024 and 2025. Exactly how this is to be achieved remains to be seen. This approach is common for budgets, but the amount of the flat-rate savings required for both years is unusually high.

Social associations, districts, but also the Greens and the Left believe that these savings will ultimately be largely at the expense of the social sector. In this context, the districts criticize the fact that the state no longer wants to fund vacant posts as it has done in the past. Until now, this money has served them as a means of meeting savings targets.

And things are likely to get even worse in the future: by the time the next budget is drawn up, everyone involved will have to think about how they can save a further three or even four billion euros. This is the so-called need for consolidation that the CDU and SPD are assuming.

Resolution Main Committee on the budget Constitutional amendment Voting age 16 Resolution recommendation Interior Committee on the amendment to the Police Act Application for amendment to the Police Act Application for amendment to the Building Regulations Resolution recommendation Building Committee on the Building Regulations Act on the RBB State Treaty University contracts