The Green Party faction in the German Bundestag is reportedly preparing to challenge the alleged misappropriation of funds from the special asset, a €500 billion infrastructure fund, at the Federal Constitutional Court. The move, revealed by news magazine “Focus”, reflects growing opposition concerns over the government’s handling of the substantial financial resource.
The reported assessment comes after significant criticism from the Council of Experts, an independent advisory body to the government, which recently published its annual report highlighting that the fund’s resources are not being deployed as supplementary investment but are, instead, substituting planned budgetary allocations. The council’s warning underscores a key vulnerability: a lack of obligation for states and the Climate and Transformation Fund to allocate these funds in addition to existing commitments.
Legal experts have echoed these concerns, with constitutional law professor Kyrill-Alexander Schwarz of Würzburg University deeming the current practices “constitutionally highly questionable”. He points to a recent Federal Constitutional Court ruling from November 2023, which emphasized the principle of strict adherence to and judicial oversight of Germany’s financial constitution. This earlier ruling invalidated the previous “traffic light” coalition government’s decision to redirect COVID-19 relief funds towards the Climate and Transformation Fund.
Despite the potential for a legal challenge, the Greens face procedural hurdles. Sebastian Schäfer, the Green Party’s budget policy spokesperson, acknowledges the difficulties, noting that the opposition currently lacks the internal consensus needed to initiate a direct constitutional review of the federal budget. Such a challenge requires the support of at least a quarter of the Bundestag’s members.
“A central procedural problem regarding the constitutional conformity of the federal budget is that, unlike the Christian Democratic Union in the previous legislative period, we cannot ourselves submit a constitutional review application to the Federal Constitutional Court” Schäfer stated. Despite these challenges, Schäfer assures that the faction is exploring alternative legal avenues to contest the perceived deviations from the original purpose of the special asset. The potential legal action represents a significant escalation in the debate over fiscal priorities and constitutional oversight within Germany.