Die Konjunkturkomponente des Grundgesetzes

The cyclical component ( Konjunkturkomponente ) of the German Basic Law constitutes, alongside the structural component ( Strukturkomponente ) and emergency borrowing, one of three borrowing authorizations of the Schuldenbremse (debt brake). It enables the federal and state budget legislators to incur debt depending on overall economic developments. Strengthening the Keynesian orientation of fiscal policy since the 1960s, it has simultaneously departed from the original concept of global economic steering ( Globalsteuerung ), establishing new standards and objectives within the binding framework of constitutional law and making them verifiable.
If the expected economic development deviates from normal conditions, borrowing and repayment become mandatory. The scope and timing of such borrowing are numerically determined through a procedure defined by statute and aligned with European law. This procedure takes into account that the cyclical component serves the functioning of automatic stabilizers and requires a symmetric balance of debt over the medium to long term. Thus, the cyclical component no longer aims at economic growth but rather at a stationary economy, foregoing any fiscal stimulus for an upswing. It divides the state's borrowing capacity into structural and cyclical parts, thereby assigning investment to the structural component within the framework considered sustainable under European law, granting cyclical debt a temporary character, and permitting further fiscal interventions only in cases of constitutional fiscal emergency.