It raises concern when politics attempts to address economic challenges with generous financial measures.

The Federal Constitutional Court has set clear limits on the federal government’s borrowing policy with a ruling issued on Wednesday. It dictates that the government cannot use the 60 billion euros allocated for combating the Coronavirus for climate protection funding, but must instead assign them to the Climate and Transformation Fund. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the second supplementary budget of 2021 does not comply with our Constitution.

The constitutional judges emphasize that the effectiveness of the debt brake must not be compromised. This mechanism is enshrined in the Constitution in Articles 109 and 115 and thus has constitutional value. In summary, this means the federal government cannot spend more money than it collects through taxes. . Revenue from borrowing cannot exceed 0.35 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, plus a “cyclical component”. This way, our Constitution imposes precise limits on new debt accumulation. During the Corona pandemic, the debt brake was suspended until 2020, a measure justified by extraordinary circumstances but should remain an exception.

The most important privilege of the Parliament is to decide annually on the state finances. However, the numerous special budgets erode the Bundestag’s rights. In recent years, these special budgets have significantly increased: 100 billion euros of special assets for the Bundeswehr, 200 billion euros for the Economic Stabilization Fund, 212 billion euros for the Climate and Transformation Fund.

The increase in public debt in Germany is largely due to these special budgets, which the federal government prefers to call “special assets,” though they would more accurately be termed “special debts.” The citizens of this country can no longer rely on the principle of clarity and truthfulness of the budget when the state consistently incurs debts outside the regular budget, which should be prepared annually.