On the constitutionality of the budgeting of general reduced expenditures

According to Helmut Siekmann, there are considerable constitutional concerns about the 2022 state budget of the Free State of Thuringia. In an expert opinion, Siekmann concludes that the identified general revenue shortfalls cannot be justified in comparison to the overall budget volume. The constitutionally required budget balance was only achieved because the individual cuts that were actually required were not decided by parliament but left to the executive branch. Global underspending is intended to balance revenues and expenditures without having to make the necessary cuts to individual items, which are often difficult to implement politically.

In Thuringia, the minority coalition of the Left, SPD and Greens is four votes short of a majority of its own in parliament. It must therefore negotiate support from the opposition CDU for all decisions. Siekmann points out in his report that the budgeting of general revenue shortfalls of any kind in no case authorizes the executive branch not to fulfill existing obligations.