Finances - Saar state parliament: Double budget and financial emergency
The Saarland state parliament has approved a double budget for the state for the years 2024 and 2025 with a total volume of almost 12 billion euros. At the same time, it declared a financial emergency for the years 2023 and 2024 at a special session in Saarbrücken on Monday. In doing so, the SPD all-party government wants to ensure access to a largely debt-financed transformation fund of 3 billion euros created in 2022 despite the debt brake.
The financial emergency was justified by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The state parliament also responded to the stricter requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court regarding the application of the debt brake with a supplementary budget for 2023 shortly before the end of the year.
The CDU opposition rejected the double budget, but abstained from voting in the decision on the emergency situation. The government was treading on "thin ice", said parliamentary group leader Stephan Toscani (CDU). "But despite all the skepticism in detail and all the objections we have: We assume that the thin ice will hold up."
The AfD rejected both the budget and the emergency situation. "I fear that this thin ice will break," said parliamentary group leader Josef Dörr.
The special session had become necessary in order to be able to make 780 million euros available from the transformation fund this year. This sum is the state's share of a total funding of 2.6 billion euros for the conversion of the Saarland steel industry to the production of "green" steel with hydrogen. The transformation fund is also intended to support other future investments such as the establishment of a chip factory, battery production and a successor to the Ford plant that is about to close.
Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker (SPD) justified the declaration of the emergency situation with the need to "put the transformation fund on a solid footing as a facilitator for the accelerated transformation". "This is about setting a central course for our future," he said. SPD parliamentary group leader Ulrich Commerçon said that 1.4 billion euros from the transformation fund would probably already be paid out by the end of 2024. He also criticized the debt brake: "Saving must not become an imperative in such a situation."
He thus contradicted Toscani, who had described the transformation fund - of which 2.5 billion euros are debt-financed - as too large. "A good billion euros" is sufficient, he said. Future generations should not be deprived of leeway: "We must not burn the wood of future generations today." The ten-year term of the fund must also be shortened: "The transformation fund must become shorter, more compact and more concrete."
The budget provides for expenditure of 5.84 billion euros for 2024 and 5.98 billion euros for 2025. In the current year, the budget volume amounted to 5.4 billion euros. At a good 2 billion euros each, personnel expenses for the approximately 21,000 state employees will also be the largest expenditure item in the next two years. At 1.2 and 1.4 billion euros respectively, the Education Ministry accounts for the lion's share of expenditure, followed by the Social Affairs Ministry with just under 700 million euros.
Against the backdrop of a demonstration by farmers in front of the state parliament against the abolition of subsidies for agricultural diesel, Toscani accused the "traffic light" federal government and in particular Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of failing to keep its own promises. "The Federal Chancellor is recklessly gambling away people's trust. Many people in Germany are simply fed up with this way of doing politics." Commerçon disagreed: Scholz "as Federal Chancellor is facing challenges from a federal government the likes of which have not been seen since the Second World War."
Agenda for the 2024/2025 budget Supplement to the 2024/2025 budget
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- The justification for declaring a financial emergency in Saarland due to the double budget was largely attributed to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
- The CDU opposition in the Saarland state parliament abstained from voting on the double budget and the financial emergency situation, with leader Stephan Toscani expressing concern about treading on "thin ice."
- Despite the rejection of the double budget by the AfD, their parliamentary group leader, Josef Dörr, feared that the "thin ice" would break, raising concerns about the financial stability of the state.
- The special session of the Saarland state parliament was called to make 780 million euros available from the transformation fund, intended for the conversion of the steel industry and other future investments.
- Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker justified the declaration of the emergency situation to "put the transformation fund on a solid footing" and provide leeway for future investments.
- Ulrich Commerçon, the SPD parliamentary group leader, criticized the debt brake and suggested that the transformation fund should not become an imperative for saving, as it is essential for the state's transformation.
- The Federal Constitutional Court's stricter requirements regarding the application of the debt brake played a significant role in the state parliament's decision to respond with a supplementary budget for 2023.
- The AfD opposed both the budget and the emergency situation, expressing concerns about the large sum financed by debt and the negative impact on future generations.
- The Household sector in Saarland's finances will see significant changes due to the double budget and the financial emergency, which include personnel expenses and support for the steel industry and other future investments.
- The special meeting of the Saarland state parliament and the declaration of the financial emergency have raised questions about the state's ability to manage its finances in the face of ongoing challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions in Ukraine.
Source: www.stern.de
