By P Gosselin
Appropriation of 60 billion euros ruled unconstitutional by Germany High Court
After Germany’s Ministry of Health had been granted 200 billion euros of spending to combat the Corona pandemic, it ultimately ended up spending only 140 billion, thus leaving 60 billion unused. Health minister Karl Lauterbach (Socialists) and economics and environment minister Robert Habeck (Greens) moved to spend the 60 billion euros on climate projects.
Illegal funneling
Germany’s ministers Habeck and Lauterbach tried to pull a fast one, and to funnel the unused money for other purposes, namely climate and transformation projects that would make Germany more green and climate friendly.
Unconstitutional! That’s what Germany’s top court just ruled, and the government has now imposed a “spending freeze on new expenditures, especially green initiatives,” reports euronews.com. This has thrown Germany’s budget into chaos.
At the stroke of a pen and a blink of an eye, Germany’s Ministry of Economics and Environment is suddenly missing $60 billion euros it had planned to use to finance the many green transformation projects. Germany’s climate program has just crashed spectacularly into a wall.
The government has also since ordered a “spending freeze on new expenditures, especially green initiatives,” according to euronews.com here. The consequences are horrendous.
Projects “may be on the brink of collapse”
For example, because billions are suddenly unavailable, chip factories in Magdeburg and Dresden may be on the brink of collapse, according to the online Berliner Zeitung here. “Previously, this amount had been kept aside to be used for renewable energy subsidies, energy-efficient housing, chips production and support measures for high-energy companies.” But the German top court rules it unconstitutional.
Longterm budget in total disarray
“The top court’s ruling has thrown German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government’s 2024 budget announcement plans on Friday into disarray. The impact could also extend to financial plans until 2027, as the government now has to make do with €60 billion less,” reports euronews.com.
Nius.de here comments: “The real kicker, however, is that the Federal Constitutional Court’s decision is likely to affect not only the so-called ‘climate and transformation fund’ of the federal government, but also other ‘special funds’ of the federal government, from which it wants to pay electricity subsidies for industry, for example, after initially borrowing a lot of money to destroy the reliable energy supply in Germany.”
No problem, Germany can vote to become a colony of China and then it can go back to using as much coal as it needs without bothering about being green.
Germany could also import Green Coal Power directly from China’s generation.
Green Coal Power, if it’s from the Climate Champ China, it must be green
This is what running out of other peoples’ money looks like.
The inanity of this whole scenario is beyond mind boggling. How this level of moronic is anywhere near political power seems to signal doom for Germany unless the public wises up fast. Fortunately, we aren’t that far gone here…..yet.
The US is on a course of becoming far worse than Germany, especially if the extremist Biden cabal prevails
North German Green Hydrogen Project Halted Due To Lack Of Economy…”Major Economic Risks”
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/north-german-green-hydrogen-project-halted-due-to-lack-of-economy
The posse of extremists of the Biden administration, it planning to spend tens of $billions to have SEVEN HYDROGEN HUBS spread throughout the US.
The sooner that is ended the better.
The cabal is unable to learn from Germany
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/13/biden-harris-administration-announces-regional-clean-hydrogen-hubs-to-drive-clean-manufacturing-and-jobs/
We British are no strangers to the arts of ‘kreative buchhaltung’ or creative accounting (Thatcher, Lawson etc etc), and whereas anything goes in make it up as you go along Britain, there are [written] constitutional safeguards in the fatherland.
You will never see or hear of anything in the UK that is ruled to be ‘unconstitutional’.
So, who wrote the German constitution…… and why won’t they give us similar greater democratic rights? Makes you wonder? It’s called maintaining the [Parliamentary] status quo.
“Our constitution basically depends on very British sentiments of decency and fair play, and it assumes people who reach high office will respect conventions, precedents and unwritten rules”
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/headlines/2022/sep/uks-unwritten-constitution
Like ignoring public consultations, that’s an unwritten rule they’re all eager to follow.
In terms of democracy, the Germans came off much better than we did..
As is often said about the UK constitution: “It’s all very well in practice but it will never work in theory”
“ the UK constitution”
Is a Parliamentary dictatorship that creates what it needs as it needs it and gives nothing away; without a bloody fight.
♪♫ Can you tell me where my country lies?”
Said the uni faun to his true love’s eyes.
“It lies with me!” cried the Queen of Maybe
For her merchandise, he traded in his prize.
“Paper late!” cried a voice in the crowd “Old man dies!”
The note he left was signed ‘Old Father Thames’
It seems he’s drowned….
Selling England by the pound
Gabriel was on to something there.
And then this…
Caught in the chaos in the market square
I don’t know what, I don’t know why, but something’s wrong down there
Their bodies twisting and turning in a thousand ways
The eyes all rolling round and round into a distant gaze
Ah, look at that crowd!
Some are jumping up in the air – say, “We’re drowning in a torrent of blood!”
Others going down on their knees, seen a saviour come out of the mud
PG1, Moribund the Burgermeister
Genesis as I like it 😀
It was great stuff, but since I know what I Like, I preferred “Yes” with Close to the Edge. 🙂
“Yes” isn’t part of my favorites – jazz like music isn’t my case at all.
Yes was… back in the day… progressive rock. Ie more than three chords and a middle eight.
In the 1970s, Lord Hailsham warned that Britain was in danger of sinking into an ‘elective dictatorship’. However, we have seen in the case of illegal immigration, the UK Government’s hands are tied by the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights. Also, there is the Supreme Court, which can, in some circumstances, limit the power of the government. But Parliament remains sovereign. It can, if it wishes both withdraw the UK from the ECHR and abolish the Supreme Court. But as long as they remain, the power of Parliament is, to some extent, limited.
It is an elected dictatorship and it has been since 1660 Hailsham wasn’t exactly a working class bloke.
What’s Hailsham’s background got to do with anything?
Is that a joke?
For DavsS’s benefit….
Baron Hailsham, a true man of the ordinary working class.
Son of Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham.
Educated at [fee paying] Sunningdale and the very run down Eton College. He entered Christ Church, Oxford as a Scholar….
Are you telling me that this feather-bedded elitist, who became a Viscount in 1950, was fighting against the Parliamentary dictatorship for the likes of me?
Really?
Please explain how that works….
Even the ‘champions of the working classes’ are privileged – Corbyn comes from money, Jon Lansman founder of ‘Momentum’ also. It’s all a game to them, a way for the monied classes to play at ‘who can get the most votes’ whilst raking in exorbitant salaries. The growth of career politicians has coincided with a decline in public trust and voice in running the country.
Maybe not, but like most of those of his generation who chose public service he understood the principles of noblesse oblige, best summed up as “the country has been good to me; it is my duty to repay my good fortune”.
Arguably, any parliamentary democracy is an ‘elective dictatorship’. What is parliament supposed to do? Ask everyone’s permission before they blow their noses? If we can’t be bothered to elect people we trust to act for us then we have no right to whinge when they make decisions we don’t like.
“Arguably, any parliamentary democracy is an ‘elective dictatorship’. “
When it will not even cede the basic democratic right of recall.
Even if Parliament was once again supreme, the problem facing us at the election next year is which socialist party do you vote for: the one led by Kneeler Starmer or the one led by Sushi Sunak?
Parliament is supreme.
It dictates to us and the ornament
There is no imperative that you vote for any party. It is my contention that you would be far wiser to vote for no party for in doing so you abdicate your democracy to a bunch of vote buying clowns. You get what you choose.
So opting out of making a choice is the solution? Remember that when government denies you the opportunity. As will surely happen if enough people follow your line of reasoning. And where will your “democracy” be then? “Oh, I gave it away because it wasn’t worth the bother.”
I did not say its not worth voting. What I said was it’s not worth voting for any party. If all representatives were independent then democracy would work perfectly. Law makers make decisions by a majority. The reasons driving those decisions is the key. With independents it can be conscience, intellect and common sense. With parties it can be ideology, bribe payment and manipulation. An independent with a free conscience is likely to be better than a party puppet who is owned by the party and if not, no harm done.
I like that information/explanation… Thanks.
and a pithy if longer variation:
The (originally West) German constitution was steered by the Allies as part of the process of reconstructing the German state. An objective was to prevent any one political party dominating.
Obviously I need to add a /sarc in future. I’m well aware of the British involvement.
“As adopted by West Germany in 1949 as an interim constitution, the preamble of the Basic Law looked forward explicitly to a future free and united German state: “The entire German people is called upon to accomplish, by free self-determination, the unity and freedom of Germany.” How diligently will people born in 2023 fight to preserve a document written with a WW2-era world view? As “the next generation after” I’m so tired of hearing about Kennedys and Nixons and Beatles and hippies and Vietnam. I wonder whether the sentiment to call all disagreeable activities whatever-gate will implode Facebook’s elderly grandkid-photos demographic in an AOL-like deflation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Eisenhower didn’t write or at least approve of the German constitution- behind the scenes of course. Didn’t some allies want to reduce Germany back to an agricultural nation? But Eisenhower and others wanted Germany to recover its industry and be a strong ally. Then we grabbed all their nuke and rocket scientists. 🙂
Not all, USSR got a bunch.
right- too bad we didn’t get all of them- maybe some were commies and wanted to go to Russia? nah, probably not
Still paying for that one….
That was the so called Morgenthau planning.
Later came the idea to place Germany as good example for western ideology in contrast to communism.
Yes. George Marshall had a better plan
Rocket and jet powered scientists yes. Nuclear not so much as their program was laughable against the scale of the US one.
But if Eisenhower wanted Germany to rebuild, why did he starve 1 million German POWs to death after the war? Why did The allies send POWs who intentionally surrendered to the western allies over to the ruskies to meet certain death? Things I have noticed.
Can you document that starvation? I presume everyone wanted to emasculate Germany first- then led it rebuild. Seems to have worked. 🙂
On what grounds did the German Constitutional Court rule that the spending could not go ahead?
The opposition in parliament asked for an approuval.
Out of a talkshow:
At the beginning of the programme, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, who joined the show from Berlin, had to put up with the question of how the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling could have come about in the first place. Markus Lanz played the politician a short video sequence in which Habeck had already warned urgently against a lawsuit by the CDU/CSU in June. At the time, he said: “That would in fact mean that the floor on which we are trying to stabilise the economic situation in Germany would be pulled away from us. (…) That would really hit Germany hard in terms of economic policy. Probably so hard that we won’t survive it.”
Markus Lanz was stunned: “That’s an insane sentence!” Robert Habeck, however, remained cautious and said: “This whole complex of the debt brake and its interpretation has never been litigated or judged before, so there have been various voices, but no legal reference point yet. We have now received this from the Federal Constitutional Court. It is now clear that the debt brake in the German constitution is very strict, very fundamental.” Markus Lanz followed up: “Rightly so?” The Vice-Chancellor replied succinctly: “That’s what the Federal Constitutional Court, our highest court, has ruled. And the law that it speaks is the law in the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
German source:
The very obvious one that it was taxpayers’ money earmarked for a specific purpose. About a third of it wasn’t used. That doesn’t give anyone in government the right to nip off with it and use it in some other pet project!
Go back and start again. There is no guarantee you would have got parliamentary authority for that use in the first place. You have no right to assume you will now.
Simple!
As I heard in the radio news what happend I couldn’t stop laughing 😀 😀
Over here they’d get away with it; dead easy, too.
Over here they wouldn’t bother allocating the funds, they just wouldn’t bother telling the hoi polloi what money was going where. Bit like the shell game without needing any shells.
“Previously, this amount had been kept aside to be used for renewable energy subsidies, energy-efficient housing, chips production and support measures for high-energy companies.”
An open admission that renewables aren’t cheap, then.
If the Energy Transition is so advantageous for everyone as claimed, why the need for subsidies ? It should be a self running system.
It should be stacking up the profits….
It’s an almost open admission of pork-barrel political funding.
And as Ukrainian events are set to reach a denouement in the next year (i.e. Russia: 1 Collective West: 0), Reuters reports:
“The European Union will be able work around any Hungarian veto and give Ukraine 50 billion euros ($53.4 bln) in aid” [by issuing Eurodollar bonds].
Sending bad money after good is the phrase, I believe.
It feels like another test case for the propositions that all war leads to total war, and whether the concept “sunk cost” is psychologically workable.
Previous comment was in reference to Russia vs Ukraine. Does the bigger country admit it just another dictatorship with terrible climate and copious oil money? Off the main topic again.
Or does the smaller country admit it’s just another corrupt oligarchy being propped up by payments from the EU, USA and UK in return for it being their pet attack dog against Russia?
I keep wondering when the shit is finally going to hit the fan.
It did a few decades ago.
Now they’re dealing with the splatter.
Governments throughout the west are the biggest purveyors of disinformation, climate and covid, to shut down citizen complaints about the incessant tax grabs impoverishing the working and middle classes.
To paraphrase Maggie T. The green project is collapsing because it is running out of other people’s money.
At least they now have a more solid excuse for not supporting the Ukrainians in the trenches who are defending Europe from real world reality.
From USA perspective – the Atlantic and the Pacific are large. If I were in an independently-governed Eastern European former satellite nation with long, arbitrary land borders then I’d watch nervously. This is the comment section on a German political article, right? Always stories of European politics get dragged back to WW2. Hopefully people who formed worldview _after_ 1990 stop old stories from being reenacted with new technology.
Funny, or sorry, thing is that this new war has devolved into WWI. No air supremacy, minor movement in front lines, artillery duels. The only things new are tanks, missiles and drones.
At least there are only limited massive infantry charges with resultant massive loss of life, as has happened recently with Russians around Avdiivka, and even those were mostly mounted infantry.
“thrown … into chaos.”
“may be on the brink of collapse”
“thrown … into disarray“
Here in the US our democrats have never seen a courts constitutional ruling they couldn’t successfully circumvent. But if the German’s lack that (corrupt) talent, this ruling may be the beginning of the restart the nukes program?
Stop pissing money away on subsidies, if your preferred power generation isn’t cutting the mustard move to a form that will. And quit being so stupid.
I like the picture with Thanos glove.
The Greens and NetZero people seem to think that if they just snap their fingers reality will change.
The real world doesn’t work that way.
Not the chip factories……oh my gosh where am I going to get my Glutenwaffen Salty Spread chips!
The Grifting just keeps going on and on. All of this grifting is benefiting the folks on the edges of the ruling class, creating a larger and larger buffer between them and the rest of us. All 1st-world countries for the most part are running a huge tax/ponzi scheme right in front of all of us, and the question is, what happens when it crashes? Torches and pitchforks? That would be to keep warm and to gather hay, BTW.
Let them run a raffle, then all the Greenies and fruit loops stealing other people’s money are free to put their hands in their own pockets. I suspect that they wont raise enough money to catch a bus.