After the criticism of the planned expansion of the Chancellery, the CDU politician Christian Haase advises abandoning the project and preferring to later use a planned transitional quarter of the Federal President's Office for the government headquarters. "That would be a pragmatic and, above all, more cost-effective solution," said the budget spokesman for the Union faction of the editorial network Germany (Wednesday).

To accommodate the President's Office during the forthcoming renovation of Bellevue Palace, a new office building is being built in the immediate vicinity of the Chancellery, he explained. After the interim use by the Federal President, this could be available for the Chancellery. Haase demanded from the federal government a comprehensive review of the previously planned new building project for the Chancellery, worth several hundred million euros.

Bellevue Palace, which was built in 1785, and the administration building for the President’s Office, which was completed in 1998, the Hauptwache and the park are to be completely renovated from 2025 onwards. The work will take several years. During this time, the Federal President and his staff have to move to an alternative quarter, which is to be built near the main train station by the end of 2024. When they return to their old domicile, other federal agencies are to use the office building.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner has put plans for a new building next to his own ministry on hold, and construction is in the design phase. Last week, the FDP chairman questioned the extension of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's (SPD) office, for which construction preparations have already begun.

Ministry of Finance on the planned expansion