North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) has criticized the federal government for planned cuts in civil protection. “The federal government has to continue its funding program, the demand is huge. The program should expire at the end of the year, so nothing can follow,” Reul told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “I ask myself: Didn’t they understand it at all?” You can’t say “that civil protection is a huge issue for the future and then do nothing.”
The federal states and municipalities “absolutely need support from the federal government to expand the siren,” said the state interior minister. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, there are still applications worth an estimated ten million euros that are no longer approved “because the money for this year is already gone”.
After the flood disaster in July 2021, politicians “across all party lines” agreed “that we neglected civil protection”.
According to Reul, the funds for the Federal Office for Civil Protection have been reduced by 112 million euros in the draft of the traffic light for the 2023 federal budget. A minus of 30 percent (158 million euros) is planned for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW).
