Criticism of growing number of state employees in Saxony

The criticism of the Saxon Court of Auditors regarding the growing number of state employees has also brought the extra-parliamentary opposition of the FDP and Free Voters onto the scene. "We are calling on the CDU to return to the sensible budgetary policy of the 1990s and 2000s as quickly as possible," explained Robert Malorny, the FDP's lead candidate for the state parliamentary elections, in Dresden on Friday. It is incomprehensible "why local authorities and districts are being asked for concepts to consolidate their budgets while the Free State's expenditure continues to explode". Malorny explained that his party is also committed to a lean state in terms of personnel.

The previous day, the State Court of Auditors had criticized the high personnel costs in the Free State. In the core budget alone, the Free State has to pay 5.2 billion euros per year for its employees, with personnel costs accounting for around 40 percent of the state budget. Saxony currently has around 96,000 state employees. The original goal was to reduce the number to 70,000.

Free Voters leader Thomas Weidinger was reminded of the fairy tale of sweet porridge. "The state is showing obese traits, and not just in Saxony. Instead of getting lost in ever new administrative tasks, we need a lean, efficient state that fulfills its core tasks. No more and no less." Weidinger accused the governing parties CDU, Greens and SPD of having neither an overall personnel strategy nor a plan for the digitalization of the administration: "We must put an end to the expansive logic of a self-propagating bureaucracy. Our goal is an efficient, citizen-oriented state that manages with fewer staff but is all the more effective for it."