According to the budget draft, adopted by the government on March 16, 2022, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (BMZ’s) budget is set to stand at €10.8 billion (US$12.2 billion) in 2022, a drop of €1.6 billion (US$1.8 billion, or 13%) compared to 2021 levels. During a parliamentary debate on the BMZ’s budget, this decrease was criticized by members of both the current government and the opposition.
The Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is part of the government and thus adopted the budget draft, said that the currently planned budget for 2022 will not be sufficient to address the prevailing crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, or the war in Ukraine. Schulze specifically noted that contributions to the World Food Programme, which were halved according to the budget draft, will not be enough to compensate for the war in Ukraine's impact on global food security.
Parliamentarians from the governing parties SPD, The Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), as well as from the opposition, Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and The Left, criticized the significant decrease in the BMZ’s budget as a flawed prioritization by the government in times of increasing demand for global solidarity. They also pointed to the coalition treaty’s agreement for a one-to-one increase in both, spending on defense (which increases according to the budget draft) and spending on development cooperation.
The budget committee will discuss the budget draft and possibly suggest amendments. The second and third reading in parliament, as well as the finalization and approval of the budget, is expected between the end of May and the beginning of June of 2022. Additionally, the Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner (FDP), announced the submission of a supplementary budget within the next two months, since the current budget draft does not yet take into account the costs of the Russian war in Ukraine.
News article – Deutsche Welle (in German)
Press release – German Parliament (in German)