Single billion amount
Lindner sends savings requests to ministries
06/01/2023, 3:30 p.m
Finance Minister Lindner is serious and sends savings targets to the ministries. A single-digit billion amount should come together. Only one ministry will probably not receive a letter.
In the budget dispute, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is increasing the pressure on the other ministries. His ministry sent letters to all departments with specific specifications as to how high their spending may be in the coming year. According to a report in the “Handelsblatt”, with the exception of the Federal Ministry of Defense, all ministries have to make savings. Lindner’s step had been agreed with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economics Minister Robert Habeck. The departments are now being asked to “develop their respective ceilings on their own responsibility,” explained a ministry spokeswoman.
The procedure should save a high single-digit billion amount, according to the report of the “Handelsblatt”. However, the required savings vary accordingly.
The cuts should primarily affect disposable expenses, such as funding programs. Investments or social spending for which there are legal entitlements are excluded for the time being. Cuts in benefits, including in social spending, cannot be ruled out in principle if the ministries do not make sufficient savings, it said.
Lindner could also cut social spending
Due to the savings targets, the financial gap in the 2024 budget is not even half closed, wrote the “Handelsblatt”. Most recently, the Ministry of Finance put the shortfall at around 20 billion euros.
In the 16 letters sent on Wednesday, the Federal Ministry of Finance also called on the departments in some cases to submit concrete proposals for a planned accompanying law on the budget. Such a law would allow Lindner to cut statutory social spending, but also for subsidies.
The budget for next year has been causing unrest in the coalition for months. Several ministries reported some high additional needs, but Finance Minister Lindner wants to comply with the debt brake and excludes tax increases. Because of the differences of opinion within the coalition, Lindner had already refrained from presenting the key points for the new budget and the medium-term financial planning of the federal government in March, as is usual.
From circles in the Ministry of Finance, it was said that Lindner discussed the further procedure for preparing the budget with his colleagues on Wednesday. Scholz and he both emphasized that the government draft should be available before the parliamentary summer break on July 7th. The Budget Committee of the Bundestag, which then continues to work with the draft, also expects this.