Abstract
With its judgement on the federal budget, the German Federal Constitutional Court has thrown the government’s financial planning into disarray. Important public investments are at stake, as the debt brake sets tight limits for the treasury and debt-financed shadow budgets. But the green transition requires public investment as the time horizons are short and the investment risk for technologies and international competition is high. A transformation and infrastructure fund (TIF) anchored in the constitution, combined with planning accelerations should be established in order to finance government investments while at the same time leaving the debt brake in the core budget untouched.