Fiasco in Berlin. The chancellor’s plan Olaf Solz to approve the 2024 budget before the end of the year failed, as the government partners failed to agree, according to information from the BILD newspaper.

As the newspaper reports in its online edition, the secretary of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Katya Mast informed the MPs with a confidential message on their mobile phones. “Although we have done everything we can to achieve this, the 2024 budget cannot be voted on in time this year”, said Mrs. Mast.

According to information from BILD, Chancellor Olaf Solz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) were meeting until late last Wednesday night, without however reaching an agreement. The next round of negotiations will take place tomorrow.

The budget problem arose when the Federal Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional the channeling of 60 billion to the Climate and Transformation Fund which were initially intended to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. With the passing of the budget pending, in the new year only mandatory costs will be covered automatically of the state, wages, pensions and welfare benefits. The remaining expenses will be submitted for approval to the Ministry of Finance.