Current:Home > reviewsGermany’s highest court annuls a decision to repurpose COVID relief funding for climate measures-VaTradeCoin
Germany’s highest court annuls a decision to repurpose COVID relief funding for climate measures
best strategies for lotradecoin trading View Date:2024-12-25 23:20:06
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s highest court on Wednesday annulled a government decision to repurpose 60 billion euros ($65 billion) originally earmarked to cushion the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernize the country, creating a significant new problem for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s quarrelsome coalition.
The money at stake was added retrospectively to the 2021 budget in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, under rules that allow new borrowing in emergencies despite Germany’s strict restrictions on running up new debt.
But it eventually wasn’t needed for that purpose, and the center-left Scholz’s three-party coalition decided in 2022 to put the money into what is now called its “climate and transformation fund,” arguing that investment in measures to protect the climate would help the economy recover from the pandemic.
Lawmakers with the main conservative opposition bloc contended that it was a trick to get around Germany’s so-called “debt brake,” and 197 of them complained to the Federal Constitutional Court.
The court ruled that the government’s move was unconstitutional and said that it will have to find other ways of filling the resulting hole in the climate fund.
The debt brake, introduced more than a decade ago, allows new borrowing to the tune of only 0.35% of annual gross domestic product.
It can be suspended to deal with natural disasters or other emergencies that are out of the state’s control, and was for the three years after the coronavirus pandemic started in 2020 to allow for large amounts of borrowing to finance various support and stimulus packages.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his pro-business Free Democrats have been particularly adamant about saving money to adhere to those rules, and the coalition also agreed at their insistence not to raise taxes when it took office in late 2021. Financing has been one of many sources of tension between the partners in a coalition that has become notorious for infighting.
veryGood! (59)
Related
- US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rise
- Prince William Visits Kate Middleton in Hospital Amid Her Recovery From Surgery
- Amazon to carry several pro sports teams' games after investment in Diamond Sports
- Google CEO warns of more layoffs in 2024 amid artificial intelligence push
- Trump taps immigration hard
- 9/11 victim’s remains identified nearly 23 years later as Long Island man
- Lululemon's Lunar New Year Collection Brings All The Heat You Need To Ring In The Year Of The Dragon
- What does this IRS code mean on my tax refund? Codes 826, 846, 570 and more explained.
- Google forges ahead with its next generation of AI technology while fending off a breakup threat
- Ex-governor candidate completes jail term for possession of images of child sexual abuse
Ranking
- Trump taps immigration hard
- University of Iowa names Beth Goetz permanent director of athletics
- Spain amends its constitution to replace term ‘handicapped’ with ‘persons with a disability’
- CDC expands warning about charcuterie meat trays as salmonella cases double
- US inflation likely edged up last month, though not enough to deter another Fed rate cut
- Israel’s president and the OpenAI CEO will take part in Davos on Day 3 of the World Economic Forum
- How Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist Are Already Recreating Their Rosy Journey
- Mila De Jesus’ Son Pedro Pays Tribute After Influencer’s Death
Recommendation
-
ParkMobile $32.8 million settlement: How to join class
-
Kate Beckinsale Slams BAFTA's Horribly Cold Snub of Late Stepfather
-
Woman alleges long-term heart problems caused by Panera Bread's caffeinated lemonade
-
Amazon to carry several pro sports teams' games after investment in Diamond Sports
-
Through 'The Loss Mother's Stone,' mothers share their grief from losing a child to stillbirth
-
Social media influencers may seem to live charmed lives. But then comes tax time.
-
Texas defies federal demand that it abandon border area, setting up legal showdown
-
'The Last Fire Season' describes what it was like to live through Calif.'s wildfires