By Gunnar Schupelius
The federal government is spending the money lavishly on buildings that can only be seen as an unnecessary luxury, says Gunnar Schupelius.
“The preparatory measures for the extension of the Federal Chancellery began as planned in January 2023.” This is what the Federal Government currently says in response to a request from the AfD in the Bundestag. The parliamentary group wanted to know whether the chancellery was actually being expanded or whether the plans had been shelved in view of the high national debt.
So they are not put on hold, the chancellery is getting an “extension”. With 400 new offices and a floor space of 25,000 square meters, it will be exactly the same size as the current chancellery (completion: 2028).
The cost of this extension is officially given as 637 million euros. The taxpayers’ association expects up to 800 million euros.
And it’s not just the chancellor who’s doing something. The ministries are also expanding vigorously.
The Foreign Office (Werderscher Markt 1) is getting a new building for 128 million euros, the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Alt-Moabit 140) for 94 million euros, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (Wilhelmstraße 49) for 92 million euros and the Federal Ministry for the Environment (Stresemannstraße 128- 130) for 240 million euros. The Federal Council (Leipziger Str. 3-4) will receive an “extension with a visitor center” for 132 million euros.
These are just a few examples that are mentioned here. And even at the second office in Bonn, there is a lot of construction going on. Among other things, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is being renovated there (houses 18, 19 and 20), although a new building is being built for precisely this ministry in Berlin.
Could the projects be stopped? Yes, that is possible. Finance Minister Lindner (FDP) was the only member of the federal government to stop the expansion of his ministry. There, 10.1 million euros have already been invested in the planning and “further orders with a volume of approx. 13.9 million euros” have been awarded. The new building would cost up to 400 million euros.
There is no money in the federal budget for a single “expansion” of ministries and chancellery. Everything has to be financed through new debt.
Germany currently has more than two trillion euros (2000 billion) in debt, the highest level since 1949. The mountain of debt continues to grow due to rising spending, higher interest rates and declining economic strength.
In view of this budgetary emergency, it is of course out of the question to construct new government buildings. No one can say whether they will be used. The plans date from before the lockdown. Currently, up to 40 percent of the employees in the authorities are still working from home. That is also not taken into account.
The government spends the money lavishly, mostly on itself.
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