Except for one
Lindner is calling for more austerity from numerous ministries
March 29, 2024, 2:16 p.m
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Finance Minister Lindner wants to achieve significant savings in the budgets of numerous ministries. According to a report by “Spiegel”, the Foreign Office and the Family Ministry are particularly affected by this. However, one department should remain unaffected by the demands.
According to information from “Spiegel”, Finance Minister Christian Lindner is calling for significant savings in the budgets of numerous ministries for the coming year – with the exception of the defense department. As the news magazine reports, citing coalition circles, Annalena Baerbock’s Foreign Office will have around 5.1 billion euros at its disposal in 2025. This would be 1.6 billion euros less than in the current year. The result would be cuts, for example, in the equipment of foreign missions, in foreign cultural policy or in humanitarian aid.
According to Lindner’s wishes, Lisa Paus’ family ministry could still plan for 13 billion euros for 2025. This would be around 900 million euros less than in 2024, reports “Spiegel”. Since a large part of the Paus ministry’s expenditure, as with parental allowance, is based on legal entitlements, this amounts to cuts elsewhere. According to the report, funding programs such as “Living Democracy” or voluntary services would be affected.
According to the report, Transport Minister Volker Wissing would have 5 billion euros less in his budget, i.e. around 39 billion euros. The Federal Ministry of the Interior would have to expect a budget of 1.2 billion euros less than this year. There are currently 13.3 billion euros available.
Defense Minister Pistorius doesn’t have to save money
Svenja Schulze’s Development Ministry (BMZ) will probably also have to reckon with significantly less funding. As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” recently reported, Lindner only plans around 9.9 billion euros for the BMZ 2025 budget. This year there are still 11.2 billion.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, on the other hand, would not have to save: According to “Spiegel”, he would have around 52 billion euros, just as much at his disposal as in 2024. Lindner expects budget applications and savings proposals from the departments by April 19th. According to the information he has given so far, he is based on the financial plan approved by the cabinet last summer. The federal government wants to decide on its draft budget for 2025 on July 3rd.