Schwerin (dpa/mv) - After the state audit office's massive criticism of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's corona protection fund, the state's taxpayers' association has backed calls for the multi-billion dollar loan program to end. The money would be used to finance projects and measures that are not directly related to the pandemic. This is at the expense of future generations. "We share the opinion of the state audit office that the MV protection fund must be settled as quickly as possible," said Diana Behr, deputy state chairwoman of the taxpayers' association, on Friday in Schwerin.
In its black book on tax waste, the taxpayers' association already listed two projects that were funded with money from the MV protection fund and are now also being criticized by the Court of Auditors. In 2020, at the first peak of the pandemic, the country took on a total of 2.85 billion euros in new debt to deal with the consequences of the Corona crisis. According to the state audit office, the credit authorizations are far too high and the majority of the projects financed with them have no direct connection to the pandemic.
The AfD parliamentary group, which filed a constitutional complaint against the massive borrowing for the MV protection fund, sees its position confirmed by the audit report from the Court of Auditors. "The renovation backlog that has built up at our schools and university hospitals over the years and the inadequate broadband expansion have nothing to do with the corona virus," AfD MP Martin Schmidt listed as examples of the improper use of funds from the loan-financed MV protection fund.
