Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – Despite the high costs of the relief packages negotiated with the federal government, Hessen does not want to shake the debt brake. “We can shoulder what we are seeing now in the state budget,” said Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) on Thursday in Wiesbaden. “And it will – as things stand now – not be necessary to release the debt brake.”
The head of government explained that the large and rough numbers would be on the table after the results of the federal-state meeting. Now it is a question of down-calculating the data for the state budget in Hesse. However, the additional costs for the country would clearly be below the feared threshold of one billion euros.
After weeks of wrangling, the federal and state governments had agreed the day before on a package to finance the planned billion-euro relief in view of the high energy prices. There was also an agreement on the financing of a nationwide 49-euro monthly ticket for buses and trains.
When presenting its plans for the 2023/24 double budget, the black-green state government had expressly stated that the financial consequences for Hesse as a result of the federal government’s third relief package were not yet reflected in the draft budget. Parts of the opposition and unions then criticized that the country still wanted to stick to the debt brake.
The Hessian state parliament has already dealt with the financial plans of the black-green coalition for the next two years in the first reading. An adoption of the double budget is planned for the beginning of next year.
