The CDU parliamentary group leader Nils Kößler considers the city's 2022 budget to have failed.

It is not sustainable because the city's debt will increase by half a billion euros, which future generations will have to pay off.

The budget is without imagination and it is an expression of political overload, said the politician on Tuesday evening in the main and finance committee of the city council.

The estimates for the construction of schools in the medium-term financial planning declined year by year, only to skyrocket in 2025, the year before the local elections, according to the criticism.

All in all, education is on the losing side, it is a budget at the expense of the little ones.

When it comes to investments in local transport, there will be a flash in the pan in 2022, after which the estimates will be significantly lower.

Mechthild Harting

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Manfred Koehler

Head of department of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Kößler further criticized that he missed the support of the coalition for the fair;

the alliance only watched the return of the Fashion Week to Berlin.

If you are looking for something about the new construction of the municipal theaters in your budget, about the renovation of the Paulskirche or about closing the gap in the U-Bahn line 4, you will find nothing at all or only planning tools.

The CDU parliamentary group leader called on the coalition to return to a solid financial policy.

However, the moment of truth will come anyway when a budget security law is presented in May.

219 million euros from reserves

Previously, treasurer Bastian Bergerhoff (Die Grünen) had explained the budget, which was originally to be discussed at the city council meeting on February 24 - but this meeting had been shortened due to the Russian attack on Ukraine in the morning of that day.

According to Bergerhoff, the Corona crisis is still putting pressure on the city's finances - but that should come to an end in the foreseeable future.

The treasurer explained that the budget will be in the red in the current year and in the next two, but that it will be almost balanced by 2024.

The city will have processed the Corona consequences the following year.

In 2022, the profit budget, which deals with ongoing business, will have revenues of 4.412 billion euros and expenditures totaling 4.632 billion.

Consequently, 219 million euros must be withdrawn from the reserves.

In 2020, in the first year of Corona, the minus was only 65 million euros, for 2021 a shortfall of 97 million is expected.

The increase in the current year has nothing to do with declining revenues, on the contrary.

Revenues increase from 4.2 billion euros in previous years to the 4.4 billion mentioned.

However, the new coalition has increased expenses significantly, from 4.3 to 4.6 billion euros.

This results in the aforementioned deficit.