Overview
- Brandenburg’s audit office warned that record new debt, drained reserves and suspended repayments leave the state facing either painful cuts or even higher borrowing, while identifying savings such as a one‑fifth reduction in office space worth about €20 million a year.
- Saxony’s finance minister flagged a hole of up to €4.2 billion in the 2027/28 plan, noting the new 0.35%‑of‑GDP borrowing option would cover only roughly €566–€770 million and foreshadowing very difficult negotiations.
- Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern prepared a 2026/27 budget that taps reserves and resumes borrowing of about €280 million per year under the debt brake’s structure component, drawing opposition criticism over limited reforms.
- Bavarian counties approved or presented 2026 budgets that hold district levies steady—Dachau at 52.5% and Weilheim‑Schongau at 55%—yet officials reported minimal fiscal room despite state equalization funds and federal special‑purpose transfers.
- Weilheim‑Schongau backed a debt‑financed capital injection for its hospital company despite objections that operating shortfalls are being covered with loans, and in Starnberg the dropped lawsuit over the levy left ongoing dissent among local officials.