The traffic light wants to use the temporary suspension of the debt brake to build up a billion-dollar reserve.
Lawyers are horrified.
Berlin - SPD, FDP and Greens are about to start coalition negotiations.
Each party will want to enforce their wishes, which should ultimately go into the money.
Since, according to the joint exploratory paper of the possible traffic light coalition, all necessary investments are to be financed within the framework of the debt brake, a way out is being sought.
The possible coalitionists see one possibility in using the suspension of the debt brake until 2023, which has been extended due to Corona, to run up heavy debts beforehand.
This idea represents, among others, Annalena Baerbock (The Greens).
On
Deutschlandfunk
, she said that one should use the leeway that one had with the suspended debt brake to make investments.
Creating a Reserve from Debt: Big Gulp from the Bottle
As the
Handelsblatt
reports, economists such as Clemens Fuest (President of the Ifo Institute), Marcel Fratzscher (Head of the German Institute for Economic Research DIW) or Lars Feld (former Chairman of the “Council of Economic Wise Men”) made similar suggestions.
Accordingly, the money that is borrowed due to the suspended debt brake should not only flow into current expenses, but should also be used to create a reserve.
Fratzscher called this "taking a big swig from the bottle". In later years this could finance the expensive wishes of a traffic light coalition.
Creation of a reserve from debts: Not compatible with the Basic Law
But this golden way out seems to be a dead end.
Renowned constitutional lawyers have spoken out against the creation of a debt reserve.
This is not compatible with the Basic Law.
"I think the procedure is unconstitutional," said Kyrill-Alexander Schwarz, Professor of Public Law at the University of Würzburg, the
Handelsblatt
.
It is an inadmissible circumvention of the debt brake.
Christoph Gröpl, professor of constitutional and administrative law at Saarland University, described the proposal to the business newspaper as “constitutionally unjustifiable”.
"Anyone who thinks this way is committing a constitutional breach par excellence," said Gröpl.
Creation of a reserve from debt: The debt brake is narrow
After the suspension of the debt brake ends, the federal government will only be allowed to incur debt of 5.4 billion euros in 2023, which corresponds to the 0.35 percent of gross domestic product in the constitution.
In the case of natural disasters or economic crises such as the Corona crisis, however, exceptions are provided.
However, the expenses incurred through the additional debt incurred must be related to the emergency.
The money may not be used to finance regular household expenses.
That is the crux of the matter for constitutional lawyers.
If it is clear that the reserve is not intended for direct crisis management, the use of the emergency clause of the debt brake is in all probability not permitted.
"That is not compatible with the intention of the debt brake," said Schwarz to the
Handelsblatt
.
Forming a Reserve from Debt: High Constitutional Problems with Credit-Financed Reserve
The federal government has already created a budget reserve.
Since 2016, 48 billion euros have been saved from the, which were actually intended to finance the refugee crisis.
Ultimately, the money withdrawn from the household was not used.
The difference to the current case is that the reserve is to be formed from debt.
"The formation of loan-financed reserves is always fraught with very high constitutional problems," said Gröpl.