The German state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt apparently thinks Covid-19 is still in full force, using the pandemic to declare a state of emergency for the seventh time. Criticism is now pouring in from the Green Party, AfD,, BSW, and FDP, writes Apollo News.
At issue are the powers such a measure allows the state government, namely, allowing it to take on more debt and circumvent the debt brake. In doing so, Saxony-Anhalt can spend up to €790 million from its special coronavirus fund.
The only problem is that this money is meant to promote pandemic resilience and to fund the digitalization and renovation of hospitals. So where is it going instead?
It is no secret that the state is facing a budget crisis, scrambling even last year to plug various gaps. The head of the state audit office, Kay Barthel, says “there was no objective justification” for the extended emergency.
“This isn’t being done because we’re in a crisis. It’s being done because otherwise we don’t know how to finance certain investments,” he told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Last year, Barthel noted that he couldn’t imagine how current budget expenditures for 2027, which were financed by debt in 2026, would then be covered by the core budget.
Several parties, reportedly including members of his own CDU, are committed to blocking the use of these funds by the state’s minister-president, Reiner Haseloff (CDU).
BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht told the Bild newspaper: “This is a simple trick to get his hands on money and put the governing parties in a better starting position for the state elections.”
Wagenknecht went even further, suggesting that the federal government should intervene to prevent Haseloff’s plans from succeeding.
“This foul play must be stopped! If necessary, there is even Article 37 of the Basic Law that could be invoked; a federal commissioner could put a stop to this abuse.”
Such a commissioner has never been appointed by the federal government in the history of the Federal Republic.
“This is a compelling idea that should be pursued further,” said FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki, whose party, with only one dissenting member, voted in favor of declaring the emergency in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, agreed with Wagenknecht, calling it “a compelling idea.”
The AfD and the Greens announced they would examine their own legal options against Haseloff’s plan.
The state was allocated a special Covid-19 fund of approximately €2 billion. By October of this year, more than half of this amount had been spent. Repayment of state debt is scheduled to begin in 2029 with installments of €100 million.
Saxony-Anhalt is the only German state that has repeatedly extended its pandemic emergency declaration, with other states last declaring it in 2024.
