Parties - SPD and CDU seek solidarity: Saar budget later
The Saarland state parliament has postponed important decisions on the state's double budget for 2024 and 2025 and the declaration of a financial emergency until a special session next Monday. According to SPD parliamentary group leader Ulrich Commerçon, the Social Democrats, who are in sole power, want to work with the opposition CDU to find legally sound ways to secure important industrial investments.
"Now we are giving ourselves a little more time together," said Commerçon after the talks with the CDU. This means that the "financial emergency" was not voted on as planned on Tuesday. The vote on this is only to take place together with the decision on the double budget next Monday. Originally, the budget was to be decided on Wednesday (13.12.).
"We have to deal intensively with the effects of the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court," said Commerçon. At a special meeting of the Finance Committee, attempts will also be made to organize the transformation fund with a volume of three billion euros, which was adopted in 2022 and is largely debt-financed, in such a way that state subsidies for investments can be financed from this fund.
Following the announcement of federal subsidies of 2.6 billion euros for steel production with hydrogen by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) on Monday, the pressure for action for subsidies of around 780 million euros from the state has become even greater. "The resources from the transformation fund are vital for the survival of the steel industry," said Commerçon.
Opposition leader Stephan Toscani (CDU), who had originally called for the budget decision to be postponed until January, said that the transformation fund "cannot be maintained" in its original ten-year budget following the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court: "Essential repair work is necessary. And it is important that the funds for structural change are now legally secured."
Therefore, "ambitious budgetary changes" are necessary. However, the CDU recognizes that a budget resolution is necessary this year in view of the current situation. He welcomed the "good constructive talks of the last few days" with the SPD. He offered the government a "partnership of responsibility" in order to place the funds for structural change "on as broad a legal and political basis as possible".
The budget deliberations began on Tuesday with a debate on the explanation of the "financial emergency situation". The draft resolution states that the emergency situation caused by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the energy price shock and the consequences of the Covid pandemic is continuing. If the switch to the production of so-called green steel is not successful, a "downward spiral of drastic job losses, declining economic strength and further decreasing financial leeway for necessary investments" threatens. The declaration of a financial emergency can justify a deviation from the debt brake that actually applies.
AfD parliamentary group leader Josef Dörr denied that this was an extraordinary emergency: "Rather, it is an extraordinary emergency, but one that has existed for a long time."
The bi-annual budget envisages 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. The largest expenditure item in the budget is for the approximately 21,000 civil servants and employees, which amounts to a good two billion euros per year.
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- The CDU, being the opposition in Saarland's state parliament, will join forces with the SPD during the special session next Monday to explore legally viable strategies for safeguarding crucial industrial investments in Saarbrücken.
- Despite the postponement of the vote on the financial emergency and the double budget, Commerçon emphasized that the SPD and CDU should work together shoulder to shoulder to address the effects of the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling.
- Recognizing the necessity of budgetary changes, Toscani, the CDU's opposition leader, offered a 'partnership of responsibility' to the SPD, aiming to provide a broader legal and political foundation for subsidies for industrial transformation in Saarland.
- In the wake of Habeck's announcement of federal subsidies for green steel production, Saarland's SPD now advocates tapping into the transformation fund's resources to finance state subsidies, ensuring the survival of the regional steel industry.
- As the CDU acknowledges the requirement for a budget resolution this year, politicians in Saarbrücken will confront urgent reforms to ensure that the funds for structural transformation can effectively address the ongoing financial challenges affecting households and the state as a whole.
Source: www.stern.de
