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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The Corona aid program planned with 117 million euros for Lower Saxony's inner cities is still a long time coming.
The background to this is a dispute over the long-term budget and the European Union's Corona reconstruction fund.
«The EU member states still have to agree to the special corona programs.
Only then can the money be paid, ”said Lower Saxony's European Minister Birgit Honé (SPD).
The Federal Constitutional Court stopped the German ratification law for EU funding at the end of March in order to be able to examine complaints.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has therefore not yet been allowed to sign the law passed by the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
This was requested by the former AfD chairman Bernd Lucke, who is now a member of the LKR party.
Lower Saxony wants to use the money to fight pandemic to launch an emergency aid program to revitalize and modernize inner cities.
"In terms of content, the EU Commission has repeatedly assured us that it wants to help us fight the consequences of the pandemic unbureaucratically," said Honé.
“It is undisputed that the cities are severely affected by the pandemic.
That's why I'm very optimistic that we can negotiate this quickly. "
In your ministry, the preparatory work for the program is very far.
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Both the Lower Saxony Association of Cities and the Association of Cities and Municipalities called for extensive aid programs in February in order to be able to cope with the consequences of the Corona crisis for the cities.
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