The Federal Minister of Finance wants to reallocate 60 billion euros that were approved as loans due to the Corona crisis in 2021, but were not taken out.
(Photo: imago images / photothek)
Berlin The Federal Audit Office considers the supplementary budget submitted by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to be “constitutionally doubtful”. The connection between the 60 billion euro allocation to the energy and climate fund and the fight against the corona pandemic is “not conclusively explained”, according to a statement published by the Bundestag for the budget committee.
Lindner wants to reallocate 60 billion euros that were approved as loans due to the Corona crisis in 2021, but were not taken out. They should be put on the high edge in the special fund, so to speak, so that they do not expire but can still be used in the coming years.
The Court of Auditors criticizes, among other things, that climate change is not an acute, sudden crisis, but a permanent challenge that has to be overcome with normal budget rules. The use of emergency loans can only be a last resort after all reserves have been exhausted. In addition, it is not conclusive that the Bundestag should subsequently change the budget of the previous year – if any necessary emergency loans could simply flow into the budget for 2022.
The reallocation is important to Lindner, among other things, because he has promised to comply with the debt brake again from 2023. This only allows small new loans. At the same time, however, the new federal government has made major investments in climate protection, among other things.
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