Taubert calls non-discharge a political racket
According to Finance Minister Heike Taubert, the state parliament's decision to initially refuse to grant discharge to the red-red-green minority government for the 2020 financial year has no legal consequences. However, the SPD politician expressed her incomprehension at the opposition's actions on Friday. After all, the parliamentary budget committee, on which members of parliament from the opposition are also represented, had examined the budget accounts and recommended that the government be discharged. "For me, this is political claptrap," Taubert told the German Press Agency.
The opposition CDU parliamentary group had requested that the government not be discharged despite the committee's vote. A scandal was only avoided in parliament on Thursday evening by referring the decision back to the parliamentary budget committee. In the past, the discharge of the government for budget statements that had long since been completed and also assessed by the Court of Auditors was not a topic of major controversy.
The CDU had based its motion on the Court of Audit's report presented this year on the government's recruitment practices for state secretaries and employees close to the ministers. The report accuses the red-red-green coalition of serious violations of the principle of selecting the best candidates when filling positions. An investigative committee of the state parliament and the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt have been looking into this for weeks.
Taubert shared the opinion of Left Party parliamentary group leader Steffen Dittes that the Court of Audit report does not contain any reason not to exonerate the state government for 2020. How the Budget Committee will now proceed was still unclear on Friday. FDP MP Robert-Martin Montag explained that the government would only be exonerated once it had been clarified that it had used public funds properly in the year in question. State Chancellery Minister Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (Left Party) had raised the issue of censure during the heated debate in the state parliament.
The red-red-green governing coalition does not have its own majority in the state parliament - it relies on at least four votes from the opposition for all votes.
Despite Taubert's belief that the parliament's refusal to grant discharge to the government is political claptrap, some households might closely follow the developments in the Parliament, particularly if they are affected by the recruitment practices under scrutiny.
Moreover, household budgets could potentially be impacted if the government's discharge is not granted, as the proper use of public funds is crucial for various public services and expenditures.
Source: www.dpa.com
