Federal Minister Seehofer: Major increase in the 2019 budget clearly indicates the growing importance of the ministry’s tasks.

The settlement session of the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag took place on 8 November 2018.

Bundesminister Seehofer zeigt sich hoch zufrieden mit den Ergebnissen:

Federal Minister Seehofer expressed his satisfaction with the results:

"The 2019 budget for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community continues the significant expansion of recent years. The increased budget is a clear indication of the growing importance of the ministry’s tasks and executive agencies. I am very pleased with this support. The 2019 budget also represents another step forward in implementing our Coalition Agreement. The 2019 budget for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community amounts to about €15.8 billion, which is about €1.7 billion more than the budget for 2018. It also includes funding for nearly 5,000 more posts in the ministry and its executive agencies. This budget will enable us to provide the services our citizens rightly expect.

As agreed at the housing summit, we will provide another €1.5 billion to the federal states to promote social housing. We will continue to provide funding for urban reconstruction and development assistance, now at the record level of €790 million. The 2019 budget also includes the necessary funding for the Baukindergeld programme to help families with children buy homes. The 2019 budget provides generous funding for many other existing programmes in the field of construction and for a few new programmes as well: For example, significant funding is earmarked to continue the successful programme for measures to prevent home break-ins. The programme to renovate local authority facilities for sport, youth and cultural activities is in great demand, and the 2019 budget again includes an additional €100 million for this purpose. A new programme funded for the first time in 2019 will support model projects in which local authorities actively apply digital technology to create ‘smart cities’.

The 2019 budget will also strengthen our security authorities, which is important for our country. It will provide more money and create more than 3,000 new jobs: The Federal Police alone will be able to hire 2,100 new officers. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for Information Security will grow too. More than €80 million have been earmarked for the Polizei 2020 project to upgrade the digital information and search systems of our police forces to make these systems faster, more powerful and able to meet future needs. The 2019 budget also increases federal equipment assistance for the public order support forces of the federal states. And I am very pleased that the Budget Committee also greatly increased the Federation’s possibilities for providing disaster response resources to the federal states.

However, the 2019 budget is not just about building and security. Social cohesion, migration, integration, support for religions and civic education are also all important issues for this budget year. For example, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees will get more than 300 new posts and a total of €720 million for integration courses. Numerous individual projects by civil-society organizations, Jewish congregations, political foundations and volunteer associations will receive funding from the ministry’s budget.

I am especially pleased about the funding for digital technology projects. The Federal Government’s draft budget for 2019 called for nearly €90 million for the Act to Improve Online Access to Administrative Services. This funding will help us increase the digital services offered by the public administration in Germany. This will make it easier for businesses and individuals alike to manage their administrative matters, will speed up processing by the administration and will make the processing of applications more convenient for all involved. The 2019 budget provides for nearly €500 million in additional funding for the project of consolidating federal IT. That is a lot of money, and we will have to spend it responsibly. But it is also a good investment in order to move forward with this ambitious and complex process of modernization, to improve IT security and to be prepared for the future.

The Budget Committee also provided more funding for sport: from around €71 million in the Federal Ministry’s budget this year to roughly €235 million in 2019. In my view, this increase in direct support for our athletes sends a positive signal. I am especially pleased that we can do so much for disability sport and its amazing athletes. That is something I feel strongly about.  “I would like to express special thanks to the coalition spokespersons on the Budget Committee, Mr Rehberg and Mr Kahrs, both members of the German Bundestag, and the rapporteurs responsible for the budget of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, Mr Gerster and Mr Gröhler, both members of the German Bundestag."