Should the pandemic have more severe after-effects than anticipated, a supplementary budget could be adopted, in principle. Whether or not this will be necessary cannot yet be reliably assessed. However, a decision on this and on any move to suspend the debt brake next year, too, does not need to be made now, but only over the course of the year.
Ultimately, of course, as with any effective ﬁscal rule, revenue and expenditure will have to be matched and priorities will have to be set. In light of the forthcoming general elections in Germany, this will be a task for the incoming government when it has to prepare future budgets.