Cabinet begins two-day budget meeting

The Saxon cabinet has been discussing the double budget for 2025 and 2026 in Roßwein since midday. The first meeting of this kind took place in the second half of January. The draft budget should be completed by March 24 and then submitted to the state parliament. As things stand, however, the Free State will not adopt a budget until the summer. Extensive consultations are due before then. As the CDU-SPD minority government is ten votes short of a majority, it is reliant on compromises.

After the first closed meeting, head of government Michael Kretschmer had already prepared the state for difficult times. "There will have to be cuts in all areas," said the CDU politician. This is because there is a gap of around 4.3 billion euros in the budget. The results of the two-day closed meeting are to be presented in Roßwein on Tuesday.

Kretschmer had already announced that, among other things, the budget equalization reserve - currently around 1.2 billion euros - would be used to offset the deficit and that 270 million euros less would be paid into the generation fund each year. The fund is intended to cushion the country's future pension burdens. A change in the repayment of loans to cope with the coronavirus pandemic is also planned.

The concept for covering the budget also provides for reductions in expenditure on personnel and material costs in the administration and state-owned companies. Funds for the co-financing of EU and federal funding programs are also to be reduced. In addition, the Free State would like to reduce bureaucracy by dispensing with reports and lowering standards.