With this fund, the state parliament will - for the second time within two years after the special Corona fund amounting to 1.4 billion euros - authorize the government to take on debt to a significant extent. According to current plans, repayment of these debts would take until the year 2075. Including the agreed reduction path for existing debts, future budgets will be burdened with well over 200 million euros per year at peak. In addition, there are risks from rising interest rates or future crises. The Green Party of Saarland raises central questions about the intergenerational fairness of using the Transformation Fund. It is clear that this fund must prospectively open up new budgetary scope. "With the debts imposed on the state in the special Corona fund, it is not apparent how these have sustainably improved the state's situation. The effect has mostly dissipated. This must under no circumstances happen again with the Transformation Fund. It may only be used where verifiable revenues or cost savings for the state are achieved," according to the opinion of the state chairman Dr. Ralph Nonninger. The state chairpersons of the Green Party Saarland therefore demand the state government to exercise the highest degree of transparency in the use of funds. In particular, the Green Party Saarland considers it unacceptable to use the Transformation Fund without the corresponding leverage effect. "It must be clearly communicated which funds from the EU, the federal government, and private sources are activated through the use of the fund and what return can be expected for the state budget. Every euro must be very precisely planned and communicated," says Dr. Ralph Nonninger. The state parliament’s budgetary law as a high democratic and central constitutional good must neither be circumvented nor relativized by the special fund.
From the perspective of the Greens Saarland, the major challenges of the transformation fund lie in its implementation. Due to the scale of the task, it is therefore necessary to involve all relevant stakeholders. The state government should not retreat to its status as the sole government in this context. In particular, the involvement of municipalities must also be provided for. The state's budgetary commitments will very likely continue to influence its leeway in the long term.
The Greens Saarland positively note that the Transformation Fund addresses tackling climate neutrality. The state chairwoman Uta Sullenberger says: "The climate crisis is humanity’s greatest challenge. Overcoming it requires all political and social forces. We must not save ourselves into disaster here for the sake of future generations." In the long term, climate protection opens up opportunities for returns for Saarland by saving energy and using affordable renewable energies.
