Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The finance committee of the state parliament has given the green light for the double budget 2022/23. After the approval of the coalition factions on Thursday evening, criticism from the opposition rained down on Friday. The co-governing Left, on the other hand, defended the budget as an answer to the major current challenges. There is an education offensive and the social budget has been increased, explained the financial policy spokesman for the Left Party, Torsten Koplin.
More than 400 amendments had been voted on, reported FDP faction leader René Domke. "While the government factions limited themselves almost exclusively to editorial adjustments, the opposition submitted the vast majority of the motions." The FDP has made it clear in the areas of modernization, digitization, education, agriculture, social affairs, justice and finance, culture and universities where they see better budget approaches. But everything was rejected.
The financial policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group, Marc Reinhardt, accused Red-Red of ignoring findings from the hearings of the specialist committees. "Even on issues such as sport, where a non-partisan decision has always been sought, the SPD and Die Linke have shown no willingness to engage in constructive discussion of proposed amendments," he complained. For the promotion of sports, the CDU parliamentary group has submitted amendments coordinated with the state sports federation in the amount of eleven million euros. This too was rejected.
The AfD described the 2022/2023 state budget, which will be voted on in the state parliament at the end of June, as "chaos, nonsense and wrong priorities". The budget spokesman for the largest opposition faction, Martin Schmidt, criticized the fact that the state government only approved the draft budget on March 15. If it is decided on June 29 in the state parliament, half a year has passed with provisional budget management. That is a problem.
The AfD also criticized the planned 100 million euro funding for hydrogen technology. Basic research and technology funding are in better hands with the financially stronger federal government, said Schmidt.
