Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – On Tuesday, the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament passed the first state budget of the black-green government, which has been in office since the summer. The budget set a new record with a volume of 94.7 billion euros. The Ministry of Education continues to have the largest budget, at almost 21 billion euros. The opposition from the SPD, Greens and AfD voted against the budget and used the debate for a general settlement.
Some items in the budget: NRW is planning 560 million euros in the budget for the “Germany” ticket, and 836 million euros to cushion additional burdens on housing benefit recipients. Half of the money should come from the federal government. According to Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), the state will spend 100 million euros in 2023 on the gradual adjustment of teacher salaries. In addition, 3,000 new police officers are to be hired in 2023. In the fight against child abuse, the police should be upgraded. Disaster control is to be strengthened as a lesson learned from the flood disaster. Almost 35 million euros are available for sport, and a total of 34.6 million euros for new cycle paths.
The budget process of the new black-green government coalition was highly controversial. Initially, the CDU and the Greens had planned a budget volume of even more than 100 billion euros because they wanted to transfer funds from the state’s corona rescue package, which expires at the end of the year, to the regular budget. This was intended to pay aid in the energy price crisis. The Court of Auditors had criticized this as unconstitutional.