Berlin The German economy cannot be successful without research. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) knows that too. And yet his officials make it difficult for research institutes in particular, which help small and medium-sized businesses in particular to turn innovative ideas into marketable products.
It’s about the almost 80 institutes of the Zuse community, which employ around 7,000 people and generate around 450 million euros in annual sales. The spectrum of topics ranges from biotechnology to health and medical technology to research on plastics, metals or tool technology.
In contrast to the large public research associations such as Helmholtz or Fraunhofer, the private, non-profit Zuse Institutes do not receive any basic funding from the federal government. They are all the more dependent on state project funding in order to be able to carry out their research.
But they now threaten to be cut off from this. Because Habeck’s officials have been interpreting the so-called betterment ban from the budget law particularly strictly for several months. It states that institutions that are mainly financed from public funds may not pay their employees better than comparable public sector employees.
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For a long time there was agreement that this only applies to employees who work specifically in publicly funded projects. Habeck’s ministry has been interpreting the ban more strictly since the summer. It demands that all employees of the research institutions should not be paid better than civil servants, for example also the managing directors of the research institutions or top researchers.
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And this despite the fact that – unlike public sector employees – they are partially liable with their private assets. By the end of March – some by the end of this year – the Zuse institutes and other recipients of project funding are to guarantee that they will comply with the ban.
“For many of our institutes, the new interpretation of the ban on better wages is threatening their very existence,” warns the President of the Zuse Association and Director of the Plastics Center SKZ, Martin Bastian. To a certain extent, they are faced with the choice of either being cut off from federal funding or having to adjust remuneration in such a way that it becomes unattractive for top executives.
Constant requests for exceptions are hardly practicable
The Federal Ministry of Economics states that the ban on better conditions must be observed for all project funding from the federal government. With exemptions from the Federal Ministry of Finance, higher remuneration than in the public sector is also possible.
However, Bastian does not consider the way of applying for exceptions to be practicable, because a new application would have to be made for each salary adjustment, new appointment or adjustment of an employee’s area of activity.
The conference of economic ministers of the federal states, which met at the state secretary level at the beginning of December, takes a similar view. The procedure entails a great deal of bureaucracy and considerable uncertainty for the future viability of the institutions concerned, according to the minutes of the meeting.
“Rather, a long-term, sustainable legal framework must be created that enables the institutions to compete on the skilled labor market and participate in innovation-related federal programs without having to rely on exemptions that have to be checked regularly.”
One possibility would be to include the institutes concerned in the Academic Freedom Act and thus put them on an equal footing with large non-university research institutions. They could then use their funds more flexibly. But there is currently no political majority for this, says Zuse President Bastian.
Opportunity for legal clarification of the budget law was missed
The alternative of anchoring a legal clarification in the budget law that has since been passed, as proposed by the state economics ministers, was missed. Although the traffic light factions added a new exemption, this only benefits some of the institutes.
In addition to the non-profit research institutions, the strict interpretation of the ban on better opportunities also affects the transformation networks, for example, which are intended to shape structural change in regions with a strong automotive and supplier industry.
>> Read here: Habeck’s problem with higher earners in support for structural change
The Karlsruhe tax attorney Klaus-Dieter Wülfrath, who represents an affected institute and is the representative of the Zuse community and various state research communities, still hopes that politicians will tackle the issue in the coming year.
“As a country with few raw materials, Germany can only score points by using its intellectual resources,” says Wülfrath. However, this is made more difficult because the strict interpretation of the ban on preferential treatment makes market-based remuneration impossible. “A change in the content of the provisions of the Budget Act to this effect can be made at any time in the coming year.”
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