Saarland plans transformation fund for structural change

Created: 09/13/2022, 10:02 am

Anke Rehlinger speaks to the German Press Agency (dpa) in the courtyard of the Saarland State Chancellery.

© Oliver Dietze/dpa/archive image

The Saarland state government is planning a multi-billion transformation fund to tackle structural change in the state.

This was announced by Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger and Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker (SPD) in a guest article in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".

According to dpa information, it is a volume of three billion euros, which is to be financed through loans.

Saarbrücken – The Council of Ministers should deal with it on Tuesday morning, and a government declaration in the state parliament is planned on Wednesday.

According to the article, the intensity of transformation is greatest in Saarland in a national comparison.

In view of the "Ukraine shock", the Saarland could not manage the necessary investments from the current budget.

For structural and demographic reasons, the high level of transformation in Saarland is met with particularly low financial strength - despite the budget consolidation of the last decade and restructuring aid from the federal government.

Without investments, however, there is a risk of a downward spiral, which is bad for the Saarland and a considerable burden for the solidarity community of the federal and state governments.

The transformation fund completes the necessary support from the federal government and the EU for structural change on the state side.

As a special fund, it will do justice to the year-spanning nature of the task.

"The credit-financed establishment of the fund is not only necessary from an economic and fiscal policy perspective, as a result of the exogenous shock it is also constitutionally permissible within the framework of the emergency clause of the debt brake," it says.

Therefore, the state government wants to propose to the state parliament to set up this fund as part of a supplementary budget for 2022.

The funds from this fund may only be spent on industrial policy, infrastructure and innovation as part of accelerated structural change.

Industrial policy is about supporting transformative investments in modernization, resettlement and start-ups by the private sector, "ie attractive jobs and value creation for the post-fossil age in Saarland".

dpa