Overview

• IW chief Michael Hüther calls the government’s approach a scandal, alleging a budgetary shunting yard that replaces planned spending with special-fund money rather than financing truly additional investment.
• Economic institutes including Ifo and IW say projects for transport, broadband and other items are shifted into the Sondervermögen, creating room in the core budget for higher social expenditures such as the Mütterrente.
• The Bundesrechnungshof questions the legality of paying hospitals for past inflation costs from the fund and warns that labeling broad research and social-program outlays as investment is overreach.
• Capital reports Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil plans about €850 billion in new borrowing through 2029, while auditors project federal interest payments to rise to roughly €62 billion annually by the next election.
• As conservatives press for Bürgergeld savings, Kanzleramtsminister Thorsten Frei argues for reducing recipient numbers through activation rather than cutting entitlements, and the CDU’s social wing cautions Merz against alarmist messaging.