The country wants more than 18 billion euros Schleswig-Holstein spend in the coming year. For comparison: This roughly corresponds to the current order backlog of the largest German naval shipyard TKMS in Kiel. For this sum, the German Navy and several other countries such as Norway ordered around two dozen state-of-the-art submarines. Germany also commissioned a research icebreaker and the modernization of six submarines that were already in operation.
But Schleswig-Holstein doesn’t have that much money. The country is expected to collect a good 900 million euros more in taxes and duties in 2026 than in the current year. With 17.4 billion euros in revenue, Finance Minister Silke Schneider (Greens) is short of around 730 million euros. For comparison: You could order several luxurious yachts with a length of 100 meters from a shipyard in the north.
Coalition also offsets budget gap with debt
The Black-Green coalition is not only making up for this budget gap with new debts of around 560 million euros. The individual ministries should be in their positions over the course of the year States also save 194 million euros. The Finance Minister believes this is possible based on past experiences.
Without the opportunity to do more that was created just a few months ago through an amendment to the Basic Law Debts the country would have faced severe cuts.
The state parliament wants to decide on the budget for the coming year in the afternoon. In addition to the coalition factions of the CDU and Greens, the members of the SSW also want to agree to this.
These are the biggest chunks
Schleswig-Holstein has a good 55,000 employees – mainly teachers and police officers. Wages, salaries and pensions will cost the country almost six billion euros in 2026 – that’s a third of the entire budget.
The almost 16,000 employees of Schleswig-Holstein’s largest employer, the University Hospital with locations in Kiel and Lübeck, are not included in the 55,000 employees. The UKSH’s central source of income is health insurance proceeds for treatments. However, the university hospital receives 137.5 million euros from the state, primarily for research and teaching. This includes, for example, 5 million euros in investment funds and 24 million euros to cover salary and collective bargaining increases for staff working in research and teaching.
The state does not spend more than 2.6 billion euros from its budget itself, but passes it on to cities, municipalities and districts via the so-called municipal financial equalization. Because there are financially stronger regions in the north and also areas with tight budgets. This system is intended to create a fair balance.
But 2026 will not be the first year in which Schleswig-Holstein takes on new debt. The country already has old debts of more than 32 billion euros from the past. And they cost money every year in the form of interest. Almost 557 million euros are planned for 2026 – that is the annual income of around 10,000 full-time employees with an average income.
Investments
However, more than one in ten euros in the country will be invested in 2026. Almost two billion euros are available for the construction of roads, the renovation of cycle paths, swimming pools, hospitals and sports halls.
The state also wants to use the first funds from the 3.4 billion euros for Schleswig-Holstein from the federal government’s debt-based investment package. For example, 56 million euros of this goes to all-day schools.
Social spending is also a large item in the budget. 1.28 billion euros are planned for so-called integration and social assistance next year.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251210-930-402783/1
