Erfurt (dpa/th) - The tug of war between the red-red-green minority coalition in Thuringia and the opposition over the state budget for 2023 has begun. Left, SPD and Greens met for the first time in Erfurt on Tuesday with representatives of the CDU parliamentary group and the FDP group to explore possible compromise lines. Red-Red-Green does not have its own majority in the state parliament and needs at least four votes from the opposition for a budget decision.
The participants did not want to give any information about the contents of the meeting. Silence had been agreed, it said after the meeting of the faction leaders in Erfurt. Another meeting is planned for next week.
At the beginning of September, the state government presented the draft budget for the coming year to parliament. It envisages record spending of 12.8 billion euros. That is an increase of almost 900 million euros compared to this year's budget. According to previous information, the budget can only be financed by the state taking around 640 million euros from its reserves.
