No home office for Merz's employees, but expensive individual offices instead: Court of Auditors criticizes expansion of Chancellery

The Federal Audit Office (BAH) sharply criticized the Federal Chancellery in a fierce letter for its stance on modern workplace concepts. In a report to the Bundestag's Budget Committee, published on July 25, it stated that the arguments against desk sharing and flexible office structures are "unconvincing." The Federal Chancellery is thus refusing to make more efficient use of office space – even though the ongoing expansion is expected to create around 590 new jobs.

The auditors emphasize that the Chancellery is not exempt from the obligation to optimize its office space. Especially with the increasing use of electronic files, clean desk policies and flexible working models can be easily implemented.

Federal Audit Office expects cost explosion

In 2023, the Federal Chancellery declared that due to "specific work processes and organizational contexts," the frequent presence of employees could not be avoided. Therefore, desk sharing was "not feasible in the foreseeable future." The Federal Government also pointed to special requirements for handling confidential processes.

In general, there has been criticism of the sharply increased costs for the expansion. Originally planned at €637 million, the current estimate is €777 million. According to calculations by the Federal Audit Office, the total costs could rise to almost €1 billion by the planned completion in 2027.

The Federal Chancellery already has more than 25,000 square meters of usable space, making it larger than the White House in Washington or the Élysée Palace in Paris. The extension will nearly double the area.

While the Federal Chancellery is sticking to traditional office structures and rejecting home office options, the neighboring Office of the Federal President at Bellevue Palace is demonstrating a different approach: Despite its own construction projects, there will be no new permanent workstations there. Occupancy is being planned to remain as flexible as possible, taking mobile work into account.

Criticism also comes from an economic policy perspective. Thorsten Alsleben, managing director of the Initiative for a New Social Market Economy, described the project in the Bild newspaper as a "monument to the waste of taxpayers' money." Instead of an ever-expanding government apparatus, he believes it would make more sense to establish a Ministry for Digitalization and Bureaucracy Reduction.