Bremen faces austerity measures: officials affected without wage compensation!

Bremen faces austerity measures: officials affected without wage compensation!

Bremen, Deutschland - in Bremen are important decisions: The Bremen Senate plans to adopt the double budget for 2026 and 2027, and Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte describes this project as the "essential milestone". However, the financial situation presents itself as challenging, with a modest view of the coming years. The final course is to be hit in a session on Tuesday, while the city has already counted over 700,000 inhabitants and thus reached a significant size. The focus is on investments, especially in the harbor, where the electricity and container queues are to be modernized in the next few years to increase competitiveness. [Weser Report] (https://weserreport.de/2025/06/bremen-bremen/panorama/geld-fuer-den-hafen- Mehr-wehr-fuer-beamte/) reports that the necessary savings measures are considered undesirable, which is also reflected in the increase in working hours by one hour.

How will the savings issue develop? At the closed conference last weekend, Finance Senator Björn Fecker (Greens) reported that working on the budget lasted longer than planned. In particular, stagnant tax revenue makes the asserted additional needs of over half a billion euros appear unrealistic. You have to wait and to what extent new financial policy decisions at the federal level of Bremen. The Senate has already agreed on a zero round for grant recipients and various austerity measures. Weser Kurier reports in the household negotiations and the effects from Berlin are precisely calculated.

drastic austerity measures in focus

With the desired austerity course, the coalition comes under pressure. The strict approach is presented by Björn Fecker as a topic of discussion. The essential austerity measures include increasing the weekly working time for civil servants without wage compensation and the deletion of the free ticket to folk festivals from 2026. Further savings affect the renovation of the cathedral courtyard, which is postponed, and the increase in entertainment tax for slot machines to 25 percent. Tagesschau calls these measures a clear reference to the tense financial situation.

Not only the officials, but also the opposition is anything but enthusiastic. Jens Eckhoff from the CDU describes the announcements as the admission of years of failure to design future strategies. His colleague Thore Schäck from the FDP criticizes the cuts in the free tickets and calls the measures "inadequate and symbolic". Nils Winter from the police union expresses outrage about the additional burdens for the police. Such reactions show how sensitive the current budget discussions are and how little scope the city has to make challenging decisions without resistance.

outlook for the future

Despite all of this, the investment plans are not left out. In particular, the support of the Bremen University and the expansion of local public transport are positive approaches that could be decisive for the future of the federal state. With 100 million euros for the renovation of the Stromkaje in Bremerhaven and 38 million euros to combat unemployment, a clear focus is on growth and employment. But here too it turns out that every investment has to be well decided and treated with the necessary foresight, according to the senators.

The coming weeks will be crucial to shape the subtleties of the household. The tax estimate in May will play an important role in determining the square values. The Bremen citizens will finally decide on the draft budget in March 2026. It remains to be seen how the political mixture and the financial framework will develop.