The coalition in Germany has reached agreement on the budget for 2024. The government will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine “as previously planned and for as long as needed.”
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The coalition has formed a budget for 2024, which will allow the country to avoid a shutdown – stopping the state apparatus in the new year. The agreement provides for covering a deficit of 17 billion euros.
This deficit arose as a result of a decision by the German Constitutional Court, which created a gap of 60 billion euros due to the ban on the use of money from the water fund.
To reach a budget agreement, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to painful cuts in green energy, construction subsidies and transport costs.
At the same time, funding for Ukraine remained untouched.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Germany has only directly (without the EU) provided us with 1 billion 737 million euros.
The hole in the German budget will be closed by reducing “climate-harmful” subsidies, individual items of expenditure and federal subsidies.
The budget for 2023 will be reduced by 17 billion euros. But the government intends to adhere to previously set goals: a climate-neutral economy, preservation of the welfare state and support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression (8 billion euros will be spent on weapons and financial assistance, 6 billion euros will go to support Ukrainian refugees).
The CO2 tax levied on fuel for cars and on residential heating using fossil energy sources, as well as the tax on aviation kerosene for flights within Germany, are being increased.
A year earlier, subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles will be stopped and funds for the development of solar energy will be cut. There are plans to introduce a new tax on single-use plastic packaging, levied on manufacturers of goods.
Source: Racurs
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