Rising interest payments, more refugees from Ukraine, high inflation – many municipalities are complaining about financial bottlenecks. Nevertheless, the solidarity with the Ukraine should not be shaken, warns NRW Prime Minister Wüst.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) is appealing to the municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia to continue to help Ukrainian war refugees in the coming year, despite financial difficulties. “We will also have to stand closely together in 2023,” he told the German Press Agency in Düsseldorf. “Together with our communities, we will do everything to ensure that everyone who flees to us from the Russian war of aggression is properly housed and cared for.”
It is clear to everyone that the harsh winter in Ukraine is still to come. “That’s exactly why we will oppose Putin’s misanthropy with all of North Rhine-Westphalia’s solidarity in the new year.” According to government figures, NRW has taken in almost a quarter of a million refugees from the country attacked by Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine last February.
At the same time, social cohesion must be protected from the consequences of the energy crisis, emphasized the head of government. “We are counteracting the record inflation with targeted relief to take some of the burden off people’s shoulders,” said Wüst. However, the FDP opposition is not yet convinced whether a planned credit-financed special fund of the state for crisis management of up to five billion euros meets the strict requirements of the constitution and reserves the right to file a lawsuit against the state budget.
Wüst also promised to speed up the expansion of renewable energies and the grids, the acceleration of approval procedures, but also the construction of roads, bridges, rails and pipelines. “That will be a focus of our politics in 2023,” he announced.
Economics Minister Mona Neubaur (Greens) wants to make the domestic energy supply and critical infrastructure more resilient and independent. At the same time, “the last chapter of lignite power generation in NRW” will be written with a new key decision for the Rhenish mining area by the summer, she told the dpa. “In 2023 we will take a big step towards becoming the first climate-neutral industrial region in Europe.”
SPD opposition leader Thomas Kutschaty already sees numerous implementation deficits in the implementation of black-green government promises. This does not only apply to the lame expansion of wind power by at least 1000 additional systems by 2027. It can also be seen in the promised old debt help for the municipalities: “The debt mountain of the municipalities is still over 80 billion euros,” he told the dpa. “If the state government remains inactive, the municipalities will need another 200 years before they have paid off the mountain of debt.” The announced exemption from contributions in daycare centers and all-day offers will also be “put on the back burner”.
