According to a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court, funds in the federal budget intended to combat the Corona crisis may initially continue to be used in favor of climate protection. The highest German court did not follow an urgent application by the Union in the Bundestag to stop the transfer of the credit authorization in the amount of 60 billion euros in the supplementary budget for 2021. However, it will examine the questions in detail in a main proceedings, as announced in Karlsruhe on Thursday. (Az. 2 BvF 1/22)
The reason given was that the consequences of an interim order would have been too severe if it later turned out in the main proceedings that the changes were constitutional. As an example, the Second Senate mentioned that the so-called EEG surcharge could no longer be financed from the reallocated funds, which would result in an electricity price increase and additional burdens for consumers and companies.
The Union in the Bundestag finds that the budget changes will circumvent the debt brake. Group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) had emphasized when the lawsuit was presented that it was not directed against sufficient funds to deal with the climate crisis. The Union is only opposed to a budgetary measure.