State Court: CDU sues against controversial supplementary budget!

State Court: CDU sues against controversial supplementary budget!

On this day, theAugust 14, 2025, an important decision is made in the Lower Saxony State Court in Bückeburg. It's about the controversial second supplementary budget for 2023, which is being legally challenged primarily by the CDU. The Christian Democrats are demanding that the budget laws be declared null and void because they feel their rights as an opposition have been violated. Main argument: Insufficient consultation time, which the CDU criticizes as insufficient.

In the supplementary budget in question, which provides for 776 million euros in additional expenditure, the funds flow primarily into the accommodation of refugees and the support of municipalities. They will receive a total of 640 million euros, which is due to the currently audited supplementary budget. The government factions, consisting of the SPD and the Greens, already knew that the funds are urgent in order to advance various social and infrastructural projectsMay 3, 2023to use. But there had already been criticism of the short-term introduction of further expenditure amounting to 15.5 million euros, which the opposition viewed as insufficiently verifiable. She was only given a week - sometimes even just a day and a half - to prepare for the final changes that were discussed in the committee.

Allegations and litigation

How Panoramic view of Lower Saxony reported, CDU MP Carina Hermann emphasized that sufficient consultation time was necessary in order to do justice to the MPs' free mandate. Your lawsuit is based on a legal opinion from administrative lawyer Prof. Bernd J. Hartmann, which highlights potential constitutional risks. This is not just an internal problem, but also affects the principles according to which budget laws are drawn up.

The government factions' procedures are particularly criticized; these were from NDR illuminated in more detail. The bill for the supplementary budget was passed onMarch 22, 2023discussed in plenary session, and deliberations in the Budget Committee began onApril 12th. However, the amendments were only introduced onApril 19th and 24thpresented, which made the shortness of time for the opposition even clearer. However, the Greens and the SPD reject these allegations and emphasize that sufficient time was given for the discussions.

Budget law in view

In order to understand the basis of this dispute, it is important to look at the Budget law to familiarize yourself with the law that regulates the planning, determination, implementation and control of the public budget. It ensures that there is both transparency and compliance with constitutional requirements when drawing up and adopting budgets. In Lower Saxony, as in other federal states, the budget is passed through a municipal budget statute.

The current legal dispute over the supplementary budget could have far-reaching consequences. For the CDU, it is not just the legal dispute that is at stake, but also the preservation of parliamentary processes, which are crucial for the functioning of democracy. The CDU MPs see themselves as being challenged in their role as a supervisory authority and would like to send a signal that something needs to change in the practices in parliament.