2025 Federal Budget Criticism: Opposition Accuses Government of Deceitful Methods
The opposition factions, including the Greens, AfD, and Left, have accused the federal government of concealing the true debt increase in the 2025 budget. The allegations come as the final debate on the budget law is scheduled to take place in the Bundestag in the week starting 15 September, with a vote planned for 19 September.
The new debt in the core budget is expected to be 81.8 billion euros as planned. However, the AfD's parliamentary group leader, Michael Espendiller, puts the total new debt from the core budget and special assets at 143 billion euros.
Espendiller described the federal budget as "wild growth" and sees a savings potential of 14 billion euros per year in the citizens' allowance alone. He also proposes reducing payments to the EU by 18 billion euros and completely stopping military aid to Ukraine.
The Green's finance expert, Sebastian Schäfer, criticized that the budget does not provide the impulses urgently needed in this deep structural crisis. Schäfer gave the example of funds for the railway being shifted from the core budget to the special fund, which does not create new investments.
Schäfer also criticized the federal government for criminally underutilizing opportunities offered by the special fund and using it to plug budget holes. The Left's finance expert, Dietmar Bartsch, echoed similar sentiments, criticizing the federal government for incurring high debts to finance the largest armament in the history of the Federal Republic while almost halving development and crisis aid and announcing social cuts.
Bartsch described the budget as being built on untruths and not a driver for growth and prosperity but a free pass for the armaments industry. The final deliberations on the 2025 federal budget ended on Thursday evening in the around eleven-hour reconciliation meeting of the Budget Committee.
The total volume of this year's core budget is now 502.5 billion euros - around 460 million euros less than originally planned by the federal government. Despite the opposition's criticisms, the federal government remains confident in its budget plan, with the Federal Minister of Finance, Lars Klingbeil, presenting the preliminary budget for the year 2025.
However, all three opposition factions have announced that they will reject the budget in the Bundestag. The deliberations on the budget for the current year had been significantly delayed due to the federal election in February and the change of government in May. A provisional budget is currently being operated in this year.
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