Berlin Airport shows the new German government how it is not paying for growth

Autumn is over, in the first months of the Covid plague, Berlin Brandenburg Airport he opened its doors – 10 years late and at a total cost of € 7bn, double and a half the original budget.

Regarded as a national embarrassment, the 30-year-old airport-operated project is not a unique story in German architecture. Construction of the new Stuttgart railway, which is now the subject of fraud cases, has cost € 8.2bn, from the first € 2.5bn.

For the FDP, a member of the “amber” government in the German power union, such examples show the flaws in setting major construction projects for corporate and budget managers.

As managers plan to take over this week, page 176 contract agreement supporting this has had an impact on the FDP, particularly in the area of ​​”future investments and fixed income”.

In a bid to curb the SPD and Greens’ spending spending cuts, there is a push for the country’s “debt”, which cuts Germany’s deficit, to be kept, as the deal promises “ten years of sales”. The plan also includes “unprecedented funding” for one reason under the vow of “introducing more private funding for transactions”.

Development workers, the richest insurers in the country and the major markets, have been empowered by the prospects. EU-wide Capital Markets Union, all will be necessary to provide secret headquarters providers, according to senior officials.

One key element, which has been enshrined in the FDP’s push for the promotion of public-private partnerships, has been instrumental in the reconstruction of UK infrastructure since the 1990s – even more recently. Information from the British National Audit Office shows the books reached a climax in 2007 at £ 8.6bn, when more than 60 businesses were affected, declining in recent years.

German interest in PPPs has shown similar decline, although the numbers are much lower – at the peak of 2007, 38 € worth of € 1.5bn transactions took place, according to Partnerschaft Deutschland, a team of consultants. In 2019, last year when the information was available, only three cases were reported, amounting to € 66m.

These methods demonstrate a mixed decision on the effectiveness of PPP. The UK NAO has been criticizing the value of the money raised for various projects since the 1990s. The price paid – by drivers through toll roads – divides many ideas.

The new agreement stipulates that private sector funds should be used to support a range of financial needs – environmental protection, digital, education, research and infrastructure.

The dispute, by its very nature, is between a government that wants to cut costs and organizations that are interested in making a profit. This is not justified in the treaty, although some figures in the new government are questioning the finances of business groups, largely due to the very low interest rate on German government debt. “If we get money from zero, why should we pay money to private organizations?” asks one.

A senior insurance official stated: “Naturally, corporations’ money should come with management skills; elsewhere, the money is well spent not as a loan but as a payment, secured by government-sponsored interest, to help control the cost of prices that undermined the Berlin airport budget.

With or without PPP, the new government has other ways to avoid debt restrictions. KFW, an existing development bank, for example, looks set to be repaid – a policy that should not add to government debt. The bank can then finance the operations of major projects. The agreement shows a similar approach to raising funds for Deutsche Bahn’s state-owned enterprises and Bima.

Monga Olaf Scholz, The incumbent SPD chancellor, arguing with FDP finance minister Christian Lindner, should look up to the sky. Even in the Covid era, enough planes flew to Brandenburg airport to provide a constant reminder of how to do so.

Patrick.jenkins@ft.com