Erfurt (dpa/th) - In the discussion about a new budget for 2023 and the use of additional tax revenue, Thuringia's Green Party leader Astrid Rothe-Beinlich spoke out in favor of the continuation of the language day-care centers. "We need 4.5 million euros if we want to continue the language daycare centers and also live diversity on site, i.e. our own state program, which unfortunately is expiring," said Rothe-Beinlich on Wednesday in Erfurt. From 2024, 16 million euros would be needed for this. That is money well invested.
With the "Language Kitas" funding program, the facilities have been reinforced since 2016 with additional specialists with expertise in language education. In the summer, the federal government announced that the program would be phased out at the end of this year. In Schleswig-Holstein, the cabinet has already decided to continue using state money.
According to the current autumn tax estimate, Thuringia expects more tax revenue this year. However, the ideas about what should be done with the money differ. Thuringia's finance minister Heike Taubert (SPD) had recently spoken out in favor of replenishing the reserve.
Left parliamentary group leader Steffen Dittes now said that much of the money was already tied up, but that the additional income would take the pressure off the budget for 2023.
The spokesman for the FDP group in the state parliament, Thomas Kemmerich, said, on the other hand, that "the world would not collapse" if there was no budget. "Everything that consists of fundamental obligations is served from existing funds." When asked whether no budget was better than the draft budget presented by Red-Red-Green, Kemmerich said yes. Rothe-Beinlich described this attitude as "completely irresponsible". "We need a budget here, very, very urgently," she emphasized. "Especially in times of crisis, you need reliability."
CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt called for "repair work" on the proposed budget, but was optimistic that this would still be possible this year if everyone worked hard.
