Coalition squabble in Germany over €60bn budget black hole

Less than a week has passed since the ruling of Germany's Constitutional Court against the reallocation of €60bn — and the political consequences are becoming increasingly drastic.

The ministry of finance ordered a temporary budget freeze for almost the entire federal budget this week. It stopped all authorisations for ministries to enter into payment obligations for future years. Expenditure in this year is not affected. According to Reuters and Der Spiegel, only a few areas are exempt...