Transformation fund not constitutional
The Saarland State Court of Audit (LRH) considers the three billion euro transformation fund to be unconstitutional. The LRH has "considerable doubts" that it meets the standards set by the Federal Constitutional Court in its ruling in mid-November, said President Annette Groh on Wednesday at the presentation of the 2022 annual report.
The Court of Audit is critical of the fact that the fund is based on a one-off declaration of an emergency situation for 2022 and a corresponding credit authorization in the 2022 financial year. However, these should only justify actual borrowing on the capital market and the implementation of loan-financed measures over a period of several years. It is therefore the duty of the budget legislator and the state government to intensively examine the conclusions to be drawn from the Karlsruhe ruling. The Court of Audit will keep an eye on the further development and examine it.
As a consequence, Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker (SPD) recently announced that he would ask the state parliament to review every year in future whether an extraordinary emergency situation exists. It must be ensured that there are "no experiments" at this point.
An expert hearing on the transformation fund will take place on Tuesday in the state parliament's Committee on Budget and Finance. Groh will also give her assessment there.
At the end of 2022, the Saarland state government launched a debt-financed, three billion euro transformation fund for structural change. Among other things, it is intended to promote the steel industry, a succession solution for Ford in Saarlouis, energy-efficient building renovations and company relocations.
The LRH's concerns about the transformation fund's constitutionality stem from its belief that the emergency declaration and credit authorization are only meant for short-term borrowing and measures, not for a debt-financed fund spanning several years. The state government must carefully consider the implications of the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling and the budget legislator's role in this, especially considering the large debts associated with the transformation fund.
Source: www.dpa.com
