Between happiness and crisis: Both elements characterize the Frankfurt budget this year, which the city councilors approved on Thursday evening with the votes of the coalition of Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt as well as the "fraction".

Luckily, 2021 ended well, with higher-than-expected revenues, preventing tighter austerity targets.

On the other hand, there are the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the corona pandemic and climate change.

Bernhard Biener

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung

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"We are taking action and fighting the crises," said Tina Zapf-Rodriguez, leader of the Greens parliamentary group, naming aid for the Ukraine refugees or an action plan for people with mental illnesses as examples.

"Children and senior citizens in particular suffered from the restrictions imposed by Corona," said the parliamentary group leader.

The coalition is also investing 35 million euros in climate protection in 2022 alone, and 245 million euros by 2025.

This would improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings and expand the charging infrastructure.

The SPD parliamentary group leader Ursula Busch spoke of times of upheaval that caused many to fear their existence.

"On the other hand, we need cohesion and respectful diversity." The coalition is trying to achieve this with many applications.

Busch gave some examples, around two million euros, with which trips to the Landschulheim an der Wegscheide and participation in its environmental education program are supported.

"That is social solidarity, because everyone can afford it." Or the free provision of sports halls and swimming pools for youth activities of the clubs.

An “Anti-Racism Day” will be introduced on the anniversary of the Hanau attack.

"We want to achieve more cohesion with our applications," said Busch.

From the point of view of the CDU parliamentary group leader Nils Kößler, on the other hand, the coalition has achieved a record level of debt.

"You have increased the debt by half a billion to three billion euros." By 2025 it would even be four billion.

"This is not a sustainable policy, because it is at the expense of future generations," criticized Kößler.

The deficit of more than 200 million euros was also increased by another 15 million euros as a result of the coalition proposals.

"You should have taken the original rather than the bad copy."



For example, too little money is being made available for the rehabilitation of industrial roads, and the CDU also wanted to invest more in playgrounds.

Education policy is the big loser.

Of the 130 million euros that would have to be saved, education would have to bear the brunt of the 70 million euros.

"The draft budget is a mute farewell to many projects," said Kößler.

There is not a euro in the budget for the renovation of the Paulskirche.



The coalition has taken on a "huge investment backlog", countered FDP faction leader Yanki Pürsün.

"We are committed to the growing city." This also includes new commercial areas, because their lack means a real danger.

In order to prepare better for the future, the FDP relies on innovation instead of bans.

"We want to encourage investment, growth and sustainability."

“He is a defeat for poor Frankfurters”

For the fourth coalition partner Volt, Martin Huber said that his parliamentary group was concerned, among other things, with democratic innovations and that he was proud that there were initial approaches to European local politics.

This is how you provide your own budget with a student budget.

Above all, however, it is about an impact-oriented budget policy - a term introduced by treasurer Bastian Bergerhoff (Die Grünen), which was missing in almost every budget speech.

"It's not the amount of money that matters, it's the impact achieved."

Better controlling is a good idea, said Patrick Schenk (AfD), who called for a restriction to the core tasks.

That has top priority.

Matthias Pfeiffer from the BFF-BIG parliamentary group spoke of a "feel-good budget for the coalition and its clientele".

Manfred Zieran (ÖkoLinX-ELF) formulated his criticism of the budget from a completely different political point of view.

"He is a defeat for poor Frankfurters." The city has an income problem because the coalition refuses to redistribute from top to bottom.

"Where is the zero tariff for local transport and childcare?" Tilo Schwichtenberg from the Garden Party finally called for "student dormitories instead of data centers".