Budget pivot: Sparing on immigration and welfare, not pensions
In the wake of the Karlsruhe budget ruling, Bavaria's Economic Affairs Minister, Hubert Aiwanger of the Free Voters party, advocates against trimming economic projects and instead suggests curtailing social sector expenditures, like reducing citizens' benefits and regulating immigration. Aiwanger emphasized that the elderly, who contributed to Germany's growth, should not bear the burden of budget cuts, stating, "These are the people who built Germany."
On Monday evening, Aiwanger shared his stance during ZDF's "Heute Journal." The economic and energy ministers of the German states and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) held a meeting in Berlin to deliberate on the implications of the budget verdict. As Chairman of the Conference of Economics Ministers of the German states, Aiwanger spearheaded these discussions.
Aiwanger underscores the need for substantial reductions in unlawful immigration and citizens' benefits for able-bodied individuals to avoid further borrowing and save billions. If asked about whether these savings could fill the 60 billion euro gap in the budget, Aiwanger suggested that the savings might not cover the entire hole but would still present a significant contribution.
The Federal Constitutional Court declared the redistribution of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to be unconstitutional. Consequently, the German government is barred from using coronavirus crisis funds for climate protection, thereby impacting the initiatives of the Climate and Transformation Fund.
The fund, in turn, supports diverse climate protection programs and technologies, as well as the development toward a carbon-neutral economy.
Despite the budget constraint, Aiwanger believes that substantial savings can be made by shrinking expenditures related to immigration and welfare without affecting the elderly population's benefits.
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Aiwanger's proposal to save money on unlawful migration and citizens' benefits for able-bodied individuals highlights a potential shift in budget allocation. Although the specific savings calculations are not available, the focus on environmentally sustainable approaches to Germany's energy transition remains pivotal for combating climate change.
