Saxony's Minister President demands leadership from Chancellor Scholz ahead of government statement on the budget crisis

Ahead of the government statement on the budget crisis, Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has called for leadership from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). "Scholz is the elected chancellor, he must lead and not always just let himself drift", Kretschmer told the "Tagesspiegel" (Tuesday). It was a matter of preventing a national crisis. The Union is prepared to cooperate at all levels. Scholz wants to discuss the budget crisis of the traffic light government in the Bundestag on Tuesday.

After the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, he expects a clear prioritization, said Kretschmer. If it becomes clear after savings have been made that there is still money missing for important future projects, "we can talk about everything - not before". The CDU federal deputy sees potential for savings in migration policy. "We are spending 50 billion euros on refugees." This policy is wrong and jeopardizes social peace.

The Federal Constitutional Court had declared the reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget null and void. The money had been approved as a coronavirus loan, but was subsequently to be used for climate protection and modernizing the economy. It is now no longer available. At the same time, the judges ruled that the state was not allowed to set aside emergency loans for later years. However, because the federal government has done this, loans of almost 45 billion euros are now to be approved retrospectively for the current year.