BERLIN, February 2 (Reuters) – The Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, approved the federal state budget for 2024 on Friday after more than two months of political crisis within Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s tripartite coalition.
In accordance with an agreement reached in December within the government, this budget respects the debt brake enshrined in the country’s Constitution, which limits the public deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product (GDP).
In this context, Germany will be able to issue 39 billion euros of new debt.
The crisis was triggered by a judgment rendered on November 15 by the Constitutional Court of Karlsruhe prohibiting the government from reallocating in the 2024 budget a remainder of 60 billion euros, originally intended for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. 19, towards a fund to support the modernization of industry and the fight against climate change.
This decision resulted in a hole of 17 billion euros in the initial draft 2024 budget. (Written by Maria Martinez, French version Bertrand Boucey, edited by Sophie Louet)
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