Prime Minister - Weil: Confusion after budget ruling harms democracy
Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil accuses the federal government of failing to prepare for the Constitutional Court's budget ruling. "I still don't understand why there was no plan B," said the SPD politician in an interview with the German Press Agency in Hanover.
The Federal Ministry of Finance is a very competent institution. Therefore, he could not explain why it had not developed a plan B as a precaution. "This is now taking its revenge," said Weil. "A great deal of confusion and uncertainty has arisen after citizens had already become increasingly uneasy over the course of the year. This is damaging democracy."
Germany's highest court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 federal budget null and void. The money had been approved as a coronavirus loan, but was later to be used for investments in climate protection and modernizing the economy.
Weil also called for a fundamental reform of the debt brake. Investments often only pay off after several years, he said. This is why it is common for companies and private households to also use borrowed capital. "The debt brake does not provide for this possibility. It assumes that you pay for everything in cash, so to speak. That is unrealistic and unreasonable," said Weil.
The debt brake does not allow the federal states to balance their budgets with debt and the federal government to borrow a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross domestic product - in 2022, this amounted to 12.5 billion euros.
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Source: www.stern.de
