Focus remains on climate protection
Traffic light budget draft marked by crises
03/21/2022, 1:35 p.m
At 457.6 billion euros, the planned spending of the traffic light coalition is higher than that of the previous government. The budget draft is shaped by the effects of both the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war. The central task for the future remains ecological transformation.
The first draft budget of the traffic light coalition, which the Bundestag is deliberating this week, is still shaped by the handling of the consequences of the corona pandemic and by the effects of the Russian attack on Ukraine. In addition, there are the future tasks of ecological transformation and climate protection as well as digitization.
household volume
The draft budget for 2022 envisages spending of 457.6 billion euros, which is 14.6 billion euros more than the previous government had budgeted for the current year. Nevertheless, the new debt should remain at 99.7 billion euros. This is made possible primarily by a significant increase in tax revenue of 17.3 billion euros compared to the budget draft for 2022 from the summer of last year. With a view to the corona pandemic, an exception clause of the debt brake is again used for borrowing. 50.8 billion euros are planned for investments.
Ukraine war and energy costs
The new security policy challenges resulting from the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine lead to significantly higher defense spending. However, this is not to be financed primarily from the regular budget, but via a 100 billion euro special fund financed with additional loans, which is also intended to cover additional expenditure in the coming years. However, the regular defense budget will also increase to 50.3 billion euros compared to the previous financial plan.
Also included are the first relief measures that have already been decided on because of the high energy costs, including the increase in the basic allowance and the employee lump sum for tax and the higher lump sum for commuters. 1.5 billion euros are estimated for the development of additional gas reserves. The government is planning an additional supplementary budget, which is to be incorporated into the budget draft as part of the budget deliberations, to further relieve the burden on the citizens of Germany and for humanitarian efforts due to the war.
corona pandemic
Aid for companies and the self-employed worth billions due to the corona pandemic will largely be continued until the end of 2022. In addition, there are increased federal grants to the social security funds to stabilize their contribution rates despite the additional costs and other measures, such as the extension of the special rules on short-time work benefits and tax relief, including the home office flat rate for employees. Additional costs continue to arise for the procurement of vaccines.
Energy transition and climate protection
The central task for the future remains the ecological transformation for more climate protection, above all driving forward the energy transition. However, the financing is primarily provided by the energy and climate fund, which was significantly strengthened at the end of last year by the transfer of 60 billion euros from unneeded corona funds. An additional 15.4 billion euros will be made available for energy-related renovations in the building sector, further funds will flow into the mobility sector and will be used to finance the abolition of the EEG surcharge.
digitalization
Federal funds are being used to fund digitization expenditure. This involves supporting the expansion of mobile and gigabit networks as well as financial aid to the federal states, especially as part of the digital pact for schools. Financing is mainly provided by the digital infrastructure special fund, which is fed in particular from income from the auction of 5G mobile radio frequencies.
housing
Boosting housing construction was a key election promise, especially by the SPD. For 2022, two billion euros are planned as financial aid to the federal states.
social
In addition to the additional measures due to the corona pandemic, the stabilization of the pension funds remains the largest budget item. 107.7 billion euros are earmarked for 2022 alone. From the budget of the Ministry for Family Affairs, 7.7 billion euros flow into parental allowance.
traffic
The volume of the transport budget remains largely unchanged. The focus here is the renovation of existing traffic routes. At federal level, investment in rail is slightly higher than in road.