For the young black-green state government, budgetary policy will be the touchstone. The consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine also hit North Rhine-Westphalia hard. The CDU and the Greens want to fight the crisis with new debts in the billions. The procedure is controversial.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - In the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, an exchange of blows on the budget policy of the black-green state government is expected on Wednesday (10 a.m.). A good five months after the government was formed, the CDU and Greens want to introduce a second supplementary budget for the year 2022. The state government wants to create a so-called special fund to deal with the consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine for NRW. Up to five billion euros in new debts are to be made for this.
Finance Minister Marcus Optendrenk (CDU) wants to draw exceptions to the debt brake for the special fund in an “extraordinary emergency situation”. The opposition SPD is demanding parliamentary scrutiny for all spending and is threatening a constitutional complaint if the governing coalition goes through with its plans on its own.
In addition, the plenum discusses the regular budget for 2023 in the second reading with debates on the budgets of the individual ministries. The state audit office had sharply criticized the 2023 budget of the NRW government as unconstitutional. As a result, the CDU and Greens dropped their plan to use billions from the Corona rescue package for the 2023 state budget at the last minute. Instead, they decided on the special fund for crisis management. The adoption of the supplementary budget and budget for 2023 in the state parliament is planned shortly before Christmas.
The lion's share of the planned state budget for 2023 of almost 105 billion euros is to continue to be pumped into the personnel-intensive area of education. On January 1st, a monthly subsidy of 115 euros will be paid out - retrospectively from November 2022 - the first stage of the adjustment of the initial salary for teachers. Black-Green is thus fulfilling a promise made in the coalition agreement. The coalition has other priorities, including climate protection and internal security.
