Seven Years On, German State Renews Corona Emergency
18th December 2025
The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt has approved a renewed corona emergency for the seventh consecutive year, allowing the regional government to continue drawing on a special pandemic fund in 2026, despite the COVID-19 crisis having largely subsided.
The decision, passed on December 16th, follows approval earlier this month by the cabinet led by Minister-President Reiner Haseloff of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Under the renewed emergency declaration, the state plans to spend up to €790 million next year, including on hospital renovations and digitalisation projects.
Saxony-Anhalt has declared a corona emergency every year since 2020. All other German federal states ended comparable emergency measures by no later than 2024. The corona special fund was initially set at around €2 billion, more than half of which had been spent by October 2025. Hundreds of millions of euros more are earmarked for 2026, with repayments scheduled to begin in 2029 in annual instalments of €100 million.
And the hunt for the storied German Totalitarianism Gene continues.