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Newly appointed Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Tuesday that the German government is unlikely to pass its 2025 budget before an early election expected to be held on February 23.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Kukies said, “It is unrealistic for the new federal budget for 2025 to be adopted before the general elections.”

Germany’s two main parties said early Tuesday that they had agreed on a new election date after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition collapsed last week.

Spending questions were at the center of tensions between Scholz and former finance minister Christian Lindner, who was fired by the chancellor last Wednesday.

This break resulted in Lindner’s liberal FDP party withdrawing from the government and Scholz falling short of a majority to pass legislation.

Kukies, who was appointed to replace Lindner, downplayed the risk of failing to pass next year’s budget.

“This is not the end of the world,” he said, admitting that not having a financial plan “is not desirable.”

Germany will publish an interim budget for 2025, which means the government can “make all the necessary expenditures and fulfill all the commitments it has undertaken,” Kukies said.

But he said the interim budget meant “new projects can only be implemented with delay”.

This isn’t the first time Germany has had to publish such an interim spending plan.

Europe’s largest economy started this year with an interim budget after the government’s finances were disrupted by a constitutional court ruling in late 2023.

Kukies dismissed concerns that political gridlock for 2024 could delay resolution of issues with the current year’s budget and lead to a potential spending freeze for the remainder of 2024.

“In today’s situation, the German economy need not fear a budget stagnation,” Kukies said. he said.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative opposition CDU, had indicated earlier on Tuesday that the supplementary budget could be advanced.

“We can do it this week,” Merz told reporters after confirming that an agreement had been reached on an early election date.