The Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag sharply criticized the decisions taken by the federal and state governments at the Minister-Presidents’ Conference.

"Friedrich Merz and Lars Klingbeil are playing a dirty game," said Green Party deputy parliamentary group leader Andreas Audretsch to the "Rheinische Post" newspaper on Friday. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor had announced that the €500 billion special fund would only be used to finance additional investments. "Then they presented a tax law that will deprive states and municipalities of over 30 billion euros by 2029 alone. These gigantic financial holes are to be closed in the future with debt that was actually intended for new investments. They deliberately want to use the billions to plug the budget holes created by Merz and Klingbeil," Audretsch said. He referred to the resolution text of the Minister President's Conference with Chancellor Merz (CDU) on Thursday evening.

Regarding the states' €100 billion share of the special fund, it states: "The federal and state governments agree that, in particular, additionality will be eliminated." The resolution contradicts the agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD with the Greens on the constitutional amendment for the special fund. "First, Merz and Klingbeil bleed the states and municipalities financially dry, then they agree with the state premiers that the 'additionality' in the use of the new billion-dollar loans will be completely eliminated in order to plug the holes again," Audretsch said. "These deceptive maneuvers do not correspond to the spirit of the negotiations on the constitutional amendment and are fiscally dubious."