According to the Ministry of Finance, almost two billion euros from the MV protection fund to deal with the corona pandemic have been allocated. Another billion is available - and the debate about the appropriate use of credit-financed aid is not dying.
Schwerin (dpa / mv) - The CDU has renewed its criticism of the financial management of the red-red state government. The focus is on the use of funds from the multi-billion-dollar MV protection fund to deal with the Corona crisis. "Projects that have nothing to do with Corona are still being paid for from the fund. In its current form, the fund is a debt-financed shadow budget at the expense of future generations," complained the CDU state and state parliamentary group leader Franz-Robert Liskow. From the point of view of the Union, digitization and Internet expansion are prime examples of the inappropriate use of protection fund funds.
In 2020, at the first peak of the pandemic, the country suspended the debt brake and took on a total of 2.85 billion euros in new debt to deal with the consequences of the Corona crisis. This was used to finance bridging aid for business, clubs and culture, but also money for the expansion of the fiber optic network, the construction of new schools or a special fund for the two university medical centers in Rostock and Greifswald. According to the state government, almost two-thirds of the funds have been paid out so far, some as loans that flow back.
"The Corona Protection Fund contradicts budgetary law and is in part clearly unconstitutional," Liskow stated. The State Audit Office has also repeatedly warned that the fund may only be used for measures that are clearly related to the corona pandemic. However, the left-wing coalition ignored this, as did constitutional court rulings in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, i.e. in countries with similar special assets such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Corona funds have now been settled there.
After a complaint by the AfD, the state constitutional court in Greifswald found that the rules for the corona protection fund that initially applied in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania violated the rights of the state parliament in budgetary matters. The blemish was eliminated by a change in the law, it said. The court did not deal with the use of funds from the protection fund itself. The plaintiff-leading AfD lacked the necessary 30 percent approval in the Schwerin state parliament for the norm control action required for this.
