By Angelika Hellemann and Luisa Volkhausen
It’s a great verdict for the traffic lights! The Federal Constitutional Court decided on Wednesday: leftover Corona funds cannot simply be used for climate protection. This means that the traffic light government is suddenly 60 billion euros short!
The Union faction in the Bundestag had complained against the money reallocation – much to the displeasure of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (54, Greens).
In June – long before the decision – Habeck warned in a federal government survey: “If this lawsuit is successful, it would really hit Germany hard in terms of economic policy. Probably so hard we won’t pass.”
Tough words from the Minister of Economic Affairs!
And he complained: It is damaging to Germany as a business location and the heating transition that the Union is suing against the use of the funds that – according to Habeck – are “reserved” for this purpose.
If the lawsuit were successful, Habeck said at the time, ignorantly, it would mean “the ground on which we are trying to stabilize the economic situation in Germany will be pulled away from us.”
Now, almost five months later, the lawsuit has been decided and there is certainty: the reallocation is unconstitutional – and, in Habeck’s opinion, the “floor has been pulled out” from the business location!
“With the verdict, Karlsruhe puts an end to the traffic light’s budget tricks,” praised CDU legal expert Günter Krings (54). “Anyone who wants to spend Corona money on climate protection is turning the state budget into a marshalling yard. It is good that the Karlsruhe judges have put a stop to such manipulations.”
How dramatic is the situation now for Germany as a business location?
The big question now is: What is behind the earlier Habeck warnings? How dramatic is the situation for Germany as a business location now?
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (54, Greens), Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65, SPD, center) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (44, FDP) are under pressure after the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision
Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld
In a press statement after the verdict was announced, Habeck said on Wednesday: Despite the verdict, “all promised obligations would be met.” BUT: New spending is only possible once the new financial plan has been drawn up.
Short words with a big meaning!
Thousands of industrial jobs are at stake
BECAUSE THAT MEANS: All the money from the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), which is already contractually or legally guaranteed, is still to be distributed. BUT: All other funds are blocked.
► This means that the funding for the construction of the Intel chip factory is shaky in the amount of 10 billion euros. Because: The contracts have not yet been signed – the KTF financial freeze imposed by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (44, FDP) is in effect and the traffic light can no longer distribute the money.
► The ban also affects particularly targeted funding for commercial companies for the environmentally friendly restructuring of their production. Example: the planned billions in subsidies for the steelworks to convert to eco-production without coal and gas are all shaky.
This means that thousands of industrial jobs are now at risk!
AND: A leading traffic light politician even warns that the ruling could accelerate the disappearance of large production sites from Germany.
The President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, also warned on Wednesday of the consequences of the ruling: The climate-friendly restructuring of the economy must not be slowed down. “How we finance this needs to be discussed again after today’s ruling,” Russwurm told the TV channel WELT, “but the necessity does not go away.”
The traffic light now wants to negotiate by the end of the year, if possible, which projects there is still money for.