90 million euros less
Lindner’s red pencil threatens security authorities
7/7/2023 6:41 am
For the 2024 budget, almost all ministries have to make significant savings. According to a report, this also applies to security authorities. They should receive around 90 million euros less in material resources, but there is a lot missing. Fighting crime is at stake.
According to a report by the editorial network Germany (RND), the cuts in the federal budget planned by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner for 2024 also have a massive impact on the security authorities. As the RND writes, citing security circles, only 240 million euros in material resources are planned for the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) instead of the previous 330 million euros. Cuts are therefore also planned for the Federal Police and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
According to the security circles quoted by the RND, the planned savings measures at the BKA, taking into account the increase in staff and inflation, mean that every euro planned for 2023 per civil servant would only correspond to 53 cents in the following year. The chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators, Dirk Peglow, called the plans to the RND “terrifying”. Inflation is letting “the budget continue to shrink”. Crime is “in case of doubt more expensive than fighting crime”.
According to the deputy chairman of the police union (GdP), Andreas Roßkopf, the cuts pose a “very big problem” in investments for the Federal Police. With the currently planned expenditures, neither the vehicle fleet could be upgraded nor the IT equipment modernized. Just replacing the up to 15-year-old smaller group vehicles of the Federal Police would therefore require 30 million euros per year. In addition, there is an investment backlog in the three-digit million range when it comes to new construction or the renovation of federal police facilities.
The federal government approved the draft budget for 2024 on Wednesday. The Bundestag is now advising on it and the medium-term financial planning up to 2027, and Parliament is expected to finally approve the budget in December.