State Legislature Begins Budget Deliberations

On Wednesday (10:00 a.m.), the Saxon government will submit its draft two-year budget for 2027 and 2028 to the state parliament. This marks the start of budget deliberations for the parliamentary caucuses. The parliament holds the so-called “royal prerogative” over the budget: it is up to the legislature to approve the budget. The minority coalition of the CDU and SPD aims to have the two-year budget approved by Christmas. 

However, the coalition partners are once again reliant on the opposition’s cooperation. Without votes from Sahra Wagenknecht’s Alliance, the Greens, or the Left Party, they will not have a majority. Difficult negotiations are therefore expected. The Greens and the Left Party intend to decide by the end of September whether they will act as swing voters, as they did with the last budget. The AfD, as the largest opposition faction, is not involved in this process.

The Saxon government plans to spend approximately 53.5 billion euros over the next two years. This makes the total budget larger than ever before. However, Finance Minister Christian Piwarz (CDU) is deliberately avoiding referring to it as a record budget. This is because, despite the large figures, the budget is accompanied by cuts and reductions.