“makes little sense”
Lindner questions the new building for the Ministry of Finance
03/21/2023, 12:37 am
Since 2019 there have been plans for an extension of the Ministry of Finance in Berlin. But now Federal Minister Christian Lindner is questioning the project. The FDP politician suggests using the area for living space instead.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner does not want to stick to the previous plans for an extension of his ministry. “We lack affordable housing. It therefore makes little sense to use the scarce space for new ministries,” said the head of the FDP to the “Bild” newspaper. “Instead, we will now check whether living space can be created here.” The Ministry of Finance said during the night that the plans for the new building would be reviewed with the aim of revising them.
Since 2019 there have been plans for an extension of the Ministry of Finance on Berlin’s Wilhelmstrasse. Construction is in the design phase. In the federal government’s budget dispute, Lindner recently questioned a similar extension to the Chancellery, for which construction preparations have already begun.
As an argument, he argued that since the Corona crisis, significantly more people have wanted to work remotely than before. In the Ministry of Finance, for example, there are already 65 percent “flexible working locations”. It follows that office space can be used differently and also limited. “We have to get out of debt. I’m also considering desirable but not necessary projects,” said Lindner of “Bild”. “I therefore question the planned new building of the Ministry of Finance.”
Scholz commissioned plans
The original idea behind the extension was to centrally accommodate employees who previously worked at six other locations in the capital. The building should cost between 600 and 800 million euros and should not be built until 2025 at the earliest. The planning was commissioned in 2019 by the then Minister of Finance and current Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said last Friday that all of the federal government’s projects would have to be checked “for their usefulness and profitability” as part of the current budget deliberations. This also includes the projects of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
In 2021, the Berlin architectural office Staab won the so-called realization competition for the extension of the Ministry of Finance. According to their plans, an energy-efficient building should be built in which a lot of wood should be used.