Two days after the compromise, the Bundestag implemented the first part of the budget agreement. This affects the CO2 price – and will probably lead to higher costs for refueling and heating.
The traffic light government is approaching Christmas with one less thing to worry about. The Bundestag decided to suspend the debt brake again and the supplementary budget for the current year. From the coalition’s point of view, the budget is now on legally secure footing. For 2024, the Bundestag implemented the first measures from the major budget compromise – at the expense of the citizens: The CO2 price is rising, families with high incomes will no longer receive parental allowance in the future.
The resolutions are a reaction to the Karlsruhe budget ruling, which threw the federal government’s finances into disarray for the years 2023 and 2024 and also called many projects into question in the following years. The traffic light government was required to plug billions in holes.
Subsequent security for energy price controls and flood relief
But first she had to fix the budget for the current year. There was also a risk of a breach of the constitution here because the government took out loans that – as we now know – it should not have easily used. Parliament has now subsequently secured payments for the energy price caps and for flood aid after the Ahr Valley flood. The sum is huge: it’s around 45 billion euros, which has already been paid out.
The loans were approved in 2021 and 2022, when the debt brake was suspended due to the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine. The traffic light government had planned to use the money in 2023 and 2024. However, the Karlsruhe judges decided that the federal government was not allowed to set aside emergency loans for later years.
That’s why the Bundestag suspended the debt brake again – for the fourth time in a row. According to Article 115 of the Basic Law, this applies in the event of natural disasters or exceptional emergency situations “that are beyond the state’s control and significantly affect the state’s financial situation.” The traffic light government argued that the war in Ukraine had profound humanitarian, social and economic consequences. In addition, the damage from the flood disaster in the summer of 2021 has not yet been repaired.
“If there is a war on the European continent, if a person like Vladimir Putin thinks he can put his power interests above the integrity of states on the European continent, then that is never a normal situation,” said SPD householder Dennis Rohde. CSU General Secretary Martin Huber accused the traffic light of using fake emergencies to suspend the debt brake.
CDU continues with constitutional concerns
After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat also gave the green light for the supplementary budget. The traffic light government is sure that it has made the 2023 budget constitutional. The Union, in turn, doubts this. In some cases, incorrect booking systems are still being used, said parliamentary group vice-president Mathias Middelberg (CDU). “And that’s why constitutional concerns remain about your supplementary budget today.”
The Federal Audit Office also considers the supplementary budget to be unconstitutional. The question is at what point in time loans are counted towards the debt brake: when they are approved or when they are actually taken out. However, there are no signs of further constitutional challenges.
Decision for 2024: CO2 price rises
The traffic light government does not want to suspend the debt brake for the 2024 financial year for the time being. Instead, she wants to earn more – in addition to various cuts. This also comes at the expense of the citizens. With the first resolution, parliamentarians raised the CO2 price charged on fuel, gas and heating oil. From January, instead of 30 euros, 45 euros per ton of CO2 emitted will be due.
The income from the CO2 price flows into the climate and transformation fund, from which projects for climate protection, among other things, are financed. Since the Karlsruhe ruling, this pot has been missing 60 billion euros, which was already planned for the period up to 2027. The higher CO2 price creates a little more leeway.
However, consumers have to expect rising fuel, oil and gas prices. According to the ADAC, a liter of gasoline could become around 4.3 cents more expensive at the turn of the year. Diesel drivers would have to expect an increase of around 4.7 cents.
According to calculations by the comparison portal Verivox, gas becomes more expensive by 0.39 cents per kilowatt hour, heating oil by 4.8 cents per liter. A model family with a heating requirement of 20,000 kilowatt hours would therefore have additional annual costs of 78 euros for gas and 96 euros for oil heating.
