Overview
- Brandenburg’s state audit office cautioned that record new borrowing, depleted reserves and halted repayment of emergency loans will leave the state facing painful cuts or even higher debt.
- Saxony opened a two-day budget retreat with Finance Minister Christian Piwarz warning that up to €4.2 billion is missing in the 2027/2028 plan and that structural, difficult choices lie ahead.
- A new rule permitting state borrowing up to 0.35% of GDP would allow Saxony an estimated €566–€770 million, which officials say would still fall far short of the projected gap.
- Bavaria’s record municipal revenue-sharing package of more than €12 billion and a federal infrastructure and climate fund offer only short relief, with Dachau planning to draw €1 million of roughly €6 million in 2026 for investments while carrying €64.8 million in debt.
- Local councils are locking in 2026 budgets with unchanged district levies, as seen in Weilheim-Schongau keeping 55 percentage points despite dissent over hospital financing via debt, and in Starnberg where a threatened levy lawsuit was dropped but tensions persist.