The federal and state governments have settled their dispute over the financing of billions in relief. This has consequences for the budgetary situation of the federal states. Answers are expected from NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst.
Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) informed the state parliament today (10.00 a.m.) about the billion-euro relief package decided by the federal and state governments in the energy crisis.
The federal and state governments had settled their dispute over the financing of the planned relief measures on Wednesday. Among other things, they agreed on an electricity and gas price brake and released it for a successor to the 9-euro ticket valid throughout Germany. During the consultations with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), financing issues relating to housing benefits and the accommodation of refugees were also clarified, and additional financial support measures for hardship cases, such as in the healthcare and cultural sectors, were agreed.
Wüst had described the agreement on the overall package as a “compromise”. However, the federal states would have preferred better solutions in some areas, such as the regionalization funds for financing local public transport. Wüst, like other state leaders, had also appealed to the federal government not to allow a “winter gap” in the gas price brake in January.
It is still unclear what the consequences of the relief package decided on Wednesday will be for the NRW budget. So far, the state government has only presented the draft for a “basic budget” for 2023 and referred to the ongoing negotiations with the federal government, which have now been completed. The burdens coming to NRW from the relief package are not yet taken into account in the first budget of the black-green state government.
The SPD opposition had repeatedly asked the state government, like other states, to issue an additional support package of their own. The government has so far kept a low profile on this.
