The Special fund the federal government’s infrastructure has so far received only very small sums, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance, for on education infrastructure have flowed. In response to an enquiry from the Greens in the Bundestag the ministry put the funds earmarked for schools, nurseries and science at a total of 1.2 billion euros, of which only around seven million euros had been paid out by the time of the response. Several media outlets report the same figures, citing the ministry’s response.
The findings relate above all to the practical availability of the funds for states and local authorities. According to the response, key requirements for releasing the funds have yet to be met in several funding streams, in particular final administrative agreements between the federal and state governments, as well as robust application and reporting procedures at the organisations responsible. Approvals are also being delayed because planning, permits and tenders for construction and digitalisation projects are taking longer than expected.
The Greens have criticised the slow implementation and called for clear deadlines, greater transparency about funds approved and committed, and a swift agreement with the states. In their view, investment could be lost or significantly delayed if procedures continue to stall. The Federal Ministry of Finance by contrast, points to the division of responsibilities under the federal system and the need to agree common standards with the states before payments can be made to local authorities and service providers.
Experts point to structural reasons for the low take-up: many school authorities do not have enough staff to handle complex funding applications, while parallel budget negotiations at state and local level are prolonging decisions on commitments and co-funding. Rising construction costs and capacity constraints in planning and the building trades are also putting time and cost plans under pressure.
The consequences are already becoming clear: renovations and modernisation of school buildings, digitalisation projects and expansions at nurseries are progressing more slowly than politicians had announced. The federal government says it intends to speed up coordination with the states and provide more support to local authorities with applications and accounting. Whether this will significantly increase take-up depends on a swift agreement on administrative arrangements, the availability of planning capacity and the willingness of the states to simplify their own procedures. A reliable assessment will only be possible once the outstanding agreements have been concluded and the first larger tranches have been paid out for educational infrastructure projects.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).