Baden-Württemberg’s Finance Minister Daniel Bayaz (Greens) and Berlin’s Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU) have campaigned for a reform commission for the debt brake. This should be made up of representatives from the federal government, states and science in order to further develop the debt brake, the two politicians write in a guest article that appeared in the “Tagesspiegel”.
The two state politicians consider an investment rule as part of the debt brake to be a conceivable part of a possible reform. “This would make it possible to finance additional investments with loans, for example with a view to the challenges of transformation,” says the guest article. “A new exception to the debt rule must not lead to new scope being created for consumptive or non-targeted spending by making the concept of investment politically charged.”
The countries also need more debt flexibility. “A state debt of, for example, 0.15 percent of their GDP would open up scope that could be used for the most important state policy issue, education,” write the two politicians. According to their idea, emergency loans should also be able to be used beyond the year in which the emergency began.
The debt brake is being criticized following the federal budget chaos. There is talk among the states about starting a reform initiative in the Federal Council, as Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) said on RBB Inforadio.
