State parliament debates controversial budget

Budget policy is dividing the parliamentary groups in the Saxon state parliament. Representatives of all parliamentary groups are using the final consultation on the double budget for a verbal exchange of blows over the future direction. Although the final vote on the 2025/2026 double budget planned for Thursday is still pending, politicians are already thinking about the next budget. The current budget is only considered a "transitional budget". The real challenges are still to come, it has been said repeatedly.

Kretschmer prepares for difficult times

Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) prepared the Free State for difficult times. He referred to the three-year recession in Germany. The fact that the state's income from taxes and levies is not sufficient to complete its mandatory tasks has not been seen in the past 35 years.

According to Kretschmer, Saxony will manage without new debt in the 2025/2026 budget. However, when it comes to drawing up the 2027/2028 double budget, which will begin in 2026, they will once again be faced with the dilemma of whether to use the instrument made possible by the amended Basic Law. According to this, the states will be allowed to take on 0.35 percent of gross domestic product as debt in future, just like the federal government.

"The sooner Berlin succeeds in setting the course for growth, the smaller the problem will be," said Kretschmer. Saxony will have to make do with less money. The state would have to forego tasks. There is already a shortfall of around two billion euros in the budget. It is more important than ever to set priorities.

Kretschmer thanks the Greens and the Left: a community of responsibility

Kretschmer expressly thanked the Greens and the Left, with whom the CDU-SPD minority coalition agreed on a budget. They had formed a "community of responsibility". The coalition is ten votes short of a majority in parliament. The Greens and the Left Party have 13 votes between them and have pledged a total of 12 to pass the budget.

AfD sees beginning of the end of sound budgetary policy

AfD parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban described the double budget as the beginning of the end of Saxony's sound budgetary policy. His parliamentary group had presented a covered draft budget. By making savings in personnel, asylum, integration, climate projects, left-wing associations and, to a lesser extent, universities, the aim is to direct tax money to where it is needed most. "We will hunt them down, that's not a threat, that's a promise," said Urban, referring to the government.

CDU announces consolidation and staff cuts

CDU parliamentary group leader Christian Hartmann replied to Urban immediately. "When they go hunting, they make sure the bear doesn't turn around," he said. "In order to prepare the upcoming budget and make provisions for the future, major consolidation efforts must be made." This makes a reduction in personnel necessary. The current budget provides time to prepare the necessary reforms. Loans should only be taken out if future generations benefit from the investments.

BSW: Budget is far removed from reality and the mood in the country

Sabine Zimmermann, parliamentary group leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), did not have a good opinion of the budget. There was no sense of a new beginning and a fresh start. The budget was far removed from reality and the mood in the country. It is also far removed from pensioners who are afraid of going into a care home and can no longer afford to pay their own share. He is also far removed from the situation in the municipalities, which will continue to be in need. Zimmermann announced a rejection of the budget on behalf of the BSW.

SPD parliamentary group leader Henning Homann took a completely different view. For him, the budget gives the state stability, cohesion and perspective. The agreement on the budget not only shows the coalition parties' ability to act and the strength of parliamentary democracy. The decision across party lines also shows that a new political culture is possible.

Greens: agreement not a deal, but an expression of democratic maturity

The Greens and the Left listed the planned cuts in areas such as social welfare, daycare, culture and nature conservation that were reversed as a result of their intervention. "This agreement is not a deal. It is an expression of democratic maturity," said Green parliamentary group leader Franziska Schubert. As an opposition, you have to ask yourself and be smart about when you want to be sand and when you want to be oil in the gears.

According to Left Party parliamentary group leader Susanne Schaper, the agreement on the budget was about "saving what can be saved". "As the Left, we will continue to fight against the policy of cuts in opposition." Her party wants greater investment in the welfare state, education, infrastructure and industries of the future. This would also require the wealthy and large corporations to pay appropriate taxes.

The non-attached MP Matthias Berger, who sits in parliament for the Free Voters, rejected both the budget and the way it was drawn up. "What is particularly intolerable for our country is that this de facto red-red-green-black government will shape the rest of the legislative period and make any necessary reform for our country impossible."