Berlin Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to solve the blockade that has been going on for months at the “Central Innovation Program for SMEs” (ZIM). His department has applied to the Treasury Department for early cash release.
This emerges from a report by the Ministry of Economics to the committee, which is available to the Handelsblatt. If Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) agrees, applications could be made to the ZIM again in the next few weeks.
The outrage was correspondingly great when the old federal government had to impose a freeze on applications in October. Due to the great demand, it became clear that the available money would not be enough.
According to the ministry report, around 2,300 applications are still pending. A timely solution to the problem was not possible. The reason: Due to the change of government, the budget will be decided later this year. And as long as it is not clear how much money is available for the ZIM, no new applications can be submitted. And the budget negotiations are still ongoing.
The draft for the federal budget 2022 of the old government included 550 million euros for the ZIM – not enough to fundamentally reopen the program. Certain projects, which only make up a fraction of the program, are exempt from the application freeze in October.
The new government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP has announced that it intends to provide more than the old government. “700 million euros a year should be an approximate figure,” says FDP politician Gerald Ullrich.
The new draft budget is currently being discussed and is due to go into the cabinet on March 9th. The decision on the budget is not planned until May. If the Ministry of Finance agrees to the request of his cabinet colleague, the ZIM could start up again in the next few weeks.
However, it is unclear whether Lindner will agree to this given the tight budget situation. And even if he did, it would still take a while before money actually started flowing again through the ZIM.
Union: Provide existing funds immediately
The opposition considers this unacceptable. In the crisis, many companies are forced to cut back on research and development, explains the research policy spokesman for the Union, Thomas Jarzombek. “Ultimately, the current phase will decide whether Germany will keep up with innovations and remain competitive in the future – or whether thousands of medium-sized companies will not be able to survive,” said Jarzombek.
He therefore makes another suggestion: Instead of waiting for the budget to be decided, money should be made available for the ZIM from existing funds immediately. Economics Minister Habeck took a very similar approach to the efficiency house program of the state-owned KfW Bank. At the end of January, he stopped funding because it had gotten out of hand. A week later, Habeck announced that it would partially resume funding.
This was financed in the short term from the Federal Government’s Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) – a special fund that is outside the budget. “The government must provide money for the ZIM immediately, including money from the KTF,” demands Jarzombek. The traffic light showed with the KTF that they could get government money out of nowhere. Why the ZIM is of no interest to anyone is “an absolute mystery”.
The left supports that. “The fact that the ZIM is not going on is not at all due to the money,” said research policy spokeswoman Petra Sitte. The traffic light can also raise funds through special funds for climate protection or building subsidies. “The innovative small and medium-sized companies do not seem to be important enough.”
From 2023, the debt brake should apply again
However, it is unclear whether such an approach would be legally permissible. The KTF is generally criticized because it represents a circumvention of the constitutionally enshrined debt brake. The reserves in the fund could only be built up because the debt brake is currently suspended due to the corona crisis. However, it should apply again from 2023.
The government wants to use the KTF funds to finance climate protection investments in the coming years. However, the suspension of the debt brake is only permitted to resolve problems caused by the crisis. The government justifies its approach by saying that due to the imbalance caused by the corona crisis, many investments in climate protection have not been made, which are now being made up for with the help of the KFT. This is controversial among lawyers. It is therefore questionable whether a resumption of ZIM could be justified.
The idea does not seem to go down well in the Ministry of Economic Affairs either. A spokeswoman said on request: “About a resumption […] A decision will not be made until there is clarity about the ZIM’s budget in the 2022 federal budget.”
The FDP MP Ullrich also points out that the money from the KTF is not intended for this: “The Ministry of Finance should instead examine the request from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.”
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