ERP special fund

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The ERP special fund is a federally managed special fund from the European Recovery Program (ERP). This was originally provided based on the Marshall Plan in 1948 to help rebuild the German economy. In order to allocate this ERP capital, which had grown to around 12 billion euros by 2007, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) was founded in 1948 .

Historical background

On December 15, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany and the USA concluded the "Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America" ​​( Federal Law Gazette 1950 p. 10 ). The Bundestag and Bundesrat ratified the agreement by law of December 31, 1949 ( Federal Law Gazette 1950 p. 9 ), which made it effective on February 1, 1950.

This agreement was a treaty that the Federal Republic of Germany signed for the first time as an equal contractual partner. The agreement determined the administration of a sum of DM 6 billion at that time as so-called special assets. This should be given to companies to build up their economy . These were revolving loans . These are funds that can be re-allocated after they have been repaid, with the result that the economy continues to receive new funds. Over the years, around 125 billion DM / € loans have been granted from the capital to promote business and medium-sized enterprises. After the debt relief by the USA in 1953, the Federal Republic only had to repay a small part of the approved loan, which was done until 1966.

Legal basis and administration

The first legal basis was the “Law on the Administration of the ERP Special Fund” of August 31, 1953 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1312 ). Paragraph 2 of this defined the purpose of the ERP special fund as serving exclusively to rebuild and promote the German economy . The current version of the "ERP Administrative Act (ERPVwG)" of June 26, 2007 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1160 ) now only speaks of promoting the German economy in Section 2 . A legal sentence that supplements the "ERP Administrative Act" and affects the management of the ERP special fund is an ERP business plan law adopted annually, such as the "Law on the establishment of the business plan of the ERP special fund for 2018 (ERP Business Plan Act 2018)" of March 8, 2018 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 343 ).

The ERP special fund is administered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The loan is granted on the basis of the promotional programs submitted by the KfW banking group.

Use of the ERP special fund

In addition to economic development in Germany, the ERP special fund is now also used in German development aid. At the beginning of the 1960s, the special fund was used to promote small and medium-sized companies. Capital investment companies (KBG) should use these subsidized promotional loans to promote their equity base. Up to 75% of the participation amount could be drawn from the ERP special fund and up to 70% of the risk of loss could be covered. These investment companies were the forerunners of private equity companies in Germany. In the 1990s, it was primarily used to promote medium -sized companies in Eastern Germany . In addition, the McCloy Academic Scholarship Program and the ERP scholarship program for studying in the United States of America are co-financed from the ERP special fund . In 2016 the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) set up two investment funds for young companies, some of which are also financed from the ERP special fund.

In 2015, the ERP special fund made it possible to finance a volume of 5.1 billion euros and around 16,100 individual loans for investments by the German economy. For 2019, according to the draft of the ERP Economic Plan Act 2019, "Commercial companies (in particular medium-sized companies and members of the liberal professions (...)) will receive low-interest loans and equity capital with a total volume of 7.8 billion euros".

Political significance of the ERP special fund

Again and again there are reports in the media that the dissolution of the ERP special fund to reorganize the state budget is planned, which then did not take place. It was last discussed in 2004 among the red-green coalition . The expenditures of the funds are controlled and monitored parliamentarily by the subcommittee on regional economic policy and ERP economic plans of the German Bundestag, a subcommittee of the committee for economy and energy .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : Reconstruction aid for the destroyed Europe. April 3, 2008
  2. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Gabriel: We advance innovation and growth financing. March 15, 2016, accessed June 27, 2016 .
  3. ↑ ERP special fund. In: bmwi.de. Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy , accessed on September 18, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Bundestag printed paper 19/4458: Draft of a law on the establishment of the business plan of the ERP special fund for the year 2019 (ERP business plan law 2019). In: bundestag.de. German Bundestag , September 24, 2018, accessed October 10, 2018 .
  5. ↑ wiwo.de: Equity Aid ERP Special Fund: Protest increases from August 25, 2004
  6. ^ Subcommittee on Regional Economic Policy and ERP Economic Plans. In: bundestag.de. German Bundestag, accessed on September 26, 2019 .

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