Opposition sees mountain guide Lorz on the wrong track

New debts, depressing personnel costs, expensive investments: Despite everything, CDU Finance Minister Alexander Lorz sees the state of Hesse on the right track with the budget plans for 2027. His opponents in the state parliament do not take away from him the story of the arduous, but ultimately successful ascent. It was the role of a mountain guide that Hesse's Finance Minister Lorz slipped into on Tuesday in the state parliament. But it was not a summit storm to which the 60-year-old CDU politician attuned the audience.

Tax revenues, which do not rise to the extent once hoped for due to a prolonged economic downturn, plus higher expenses, especially for the staff that has grown to around 160,000 people in all these years: such circumstances allowed Lorz to paint the picture of an arduous ascent from the valley to sunny heights when he presented his budget plan for the coming year in the state parliament. Two weeks ago, the minister had already presented the key data. “Challenging trails lead us through steep, rough terrain closer to the summit,” he said of what was to come. He did not convince the opposition.

To stay in the picture, she believes that the minister is hopelessly lost on his tour. Rewrite Sisyphus saga It was the first of three rounds in which Parliament discussed the Finance Minister's plans for 2027. The second is the so-called general debate. In it, the opponents want to settle accounts with the government policy of Schwarz-Rot.

At the end – in between, all parties will submit proposals for changes – there will be a vote. So far, so usual. But this was rather new: that the finance minister, known for sober calculation, this time rose by a rhetorical red thread through a realm of alpine metaphors and myths. Lorz even compared the upcoming task to that of the ancient hero Sisyphus, who was eternally condemned by the gods to roll a block of stone steeply uphill, each time rolling down just before the finish.

In the case of Hesse, however, Lorz wants to rewrite the story - and bring it to the stage with a happy ending. A gap of billions The reasons for such tragically vivid bonds were then again in bare figures. From the point of view of the Minister of Finance, they are as questionable as they have been for a long time: according to the draft, Hesse will receive around 39.3 billion euros, but will spend 41.6 billion euros. In order to fill the hole, CDU member Lorz wants to create 1.7 billion euros of new debt with the help of the loosened debt brake.

That is 100 million euros less than in 2026. In addition, he makes use of the reserve. Above all, however, Lorz prepared the members of parliament and all citizens with them for tougher savings in the future. “We need to weigh up even more in the future what expenses we can still afford,” he said.

The biggest cost factor, personnel, is not even 50 jobs cut. But for the Minister of Finance, it is a turnaround. “A start has been made, the direction is right,” he said. However, teachers or police officers are not spared and not even in the judiciary - on the contrary.

Despite everything, Lorz also announced investments, especially in "future topics". He mentioned education, the strengthening of the business location and investments in infrastructure. In addition, the state wants to transfer 12.5 billion euros to the municipalities – including the funds financed by the federal government through debt from the so-called "special fund". FDP: Lorz has not even started yet. His critics were not convinced by this for various reasons.

The FDP MP Marion Schardt-Sauer drew on the Minister's account of the mountain tour: "The state government does not even have the courage to set off," she said. The CDU and SPD did not confront the urgent debate about what the country could still afford in the long term and how it would fundamentally reform its administration. According to the FDP politician, the budget can only be sustainably consolidated with structural reforms and a more efficient administration, especially through digitization. AfD: Alleged consolidation is a "bad joke". "No citizen understands why the government wants to take on additional debt when tax revenues are expected to rise higher," said Roman Bausch, the AfD's fiscal policy spokesman.

What Schwarz-Rot wanted to sell as consolidation was "a bad joke". According to the AfD politician, savings would have to be made on a large scale, both in personnel and in climate policy. Instead, the state government is recklessly taking out new loans. The next generation will pay a price for this.

Greens: Climate protection "short and sweet" "Neither resilient nor sustainable" – with this verdict, the Green Miriam Dahlke substantiated the budget plans of the Minister of Finance. She accused him of "booming silence" in light of this year's heat summer. "When it comes to climate protection, everything is cut short," she said. If it were up to her, the state government would pay particular attention to climate protection and climate adaptation.

Dahlke accused Lorz of no longer doing anything for education. Instead, the Red Pencil is used from the day-care centres to the schools and universities. The Greens also relativized Lorz's statements about higher spending in favor of the clumsy municipalities. The increase here was only 1.7 percent, while Hesse received 5.7 percent more in taxes.

SPD: Despite everything, the course is being set "We cannot invest as much as we would like," admitted Marius Weiß, the SPD's budget policy spokesman. Despite the difficult times, however, the draft contains "significant investments in the future" in education, social affairs, business and universities. The three last-mentioned policy areas all fall under the portfolio of the three SPD ministers of the black-red state government. As examples, White cited, among other things, 3.7 billion euros that flowed into economic, industrial and transport policy.

The promotion of major projects such as the Defence Hub Nordhessen in Kassel or the new insulin production of the pharmaceutical company Sanofi in Frankfurt strengthened the business location. And Minister of Social Affairs Heike Hofmann is currently setting up a new and reliable aid system for women with funding of over 30 million euros by 2020.