Today the Cabinet adopted the second government draft of the 2014 budget act. The budget for the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) stands at 3.647 billion euro - over double that of last year's. This reflects the new broader range of responsibilities of the BMUB following the restructuring of the ministries. A central focus of the draft is additional investments in urban development.
Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks commented: "With the adoption of the 2014 draft budget act today, the Federal Government is underlining its commitment to supporting the development of cities and municipalities. Increasing urban development assistance is a clear sign that investments are urgently needed. The money will be invested in cities and municipalities of all shapes and sizes; both in large cities and smaller municipalities in rural areas."
Government funds for urban development assistance will be increased from 455 million euro in 2013 to 700 million euro this year. The money will be divided up between the programmes below as follows:
Programme | Budget 2013 | Draft Budget 2014 |
Social City | 40 million euro | 150 million euro |
Urban Restructuring in the New Federal States | 84 million euro | 110 million euro |
Urban Restructuring in the Old Federal States | 83 million euro | 110 million euro |
Active City and District Centres | 97 million euro | 125 million euro |
Protection of the Urban Architectural Heritage in New Federal States | 64 million euro | 80 million euro |
Protection of the Urban Architectural Heritage in Old Federal States | 32 million euro | 45 million euro |
Smaller Cities and Municipalities | 55 million euro | 80 million euro |
Together with co-financing by the Länder and municipalities, a total of approximately 2 billion euro of public funding will be made available for urban renewal.
Alongside the considerable increase in funds for the "Social City" urban development assistance programme, deprived areas will also be receiving funding for labour market projects for young people and the long-term unemployed. For instance, national co-financing of the new ESF-Federal Government programme "Social City - Education, Economy, Work in the Neighbourhood (BIWAQ)" has been secured in the government draft at a figure of circa 64 million euro.
New funds have been allocated to nature conservation: within the budget 8 million euro has been earmarked for accompanying nature conservation research with a view towards expanding renewables. This also includes a new Competence Centre on Nature Conservation and the New Energy Era, which will serve to advise in situations where there is a conflict of interests between the expansion of renewables and nature conservation.