The previous plans of the SPD state government for a debt-financed transformation fund have met with sharp criticism from the FDP Saar. The state chairman Oliver Luksic (Member of the Bundestag) calls for more focus on innovation and has fundamental concerns:
„The transformation fund would be large in volume and, alongside the Corona special fund, would severely restrict the scope for interest and repayment for a long time. A repayment period from 2035 to 2075 is not serious. Consumptive expenditures are to be made bypassing the core budget and the debt brake. This is counterproductive and probably not compatible with the constitution. When one first talks about 3 billion and then can only roughly outline supposedly indispensable projects, that is the wrong order. If one wants to spend only half as much on innovation as on public buildings, that has more to do with a variety store than with successful transformation. Attractive facades are nice, but more important are innovation, new jobs, and value chains in view of Saarland’s very below-average economic development.
