Community in need: Where are the urgently needed financial aid?
Community in need: Where are the urgently needed financial aid?
In a moving last budget speech, regional association director Peter Gillo (SPD) pointed out the alarming financial situation of the municipalities. "The levy is far too high, the financial emergency of cities and municipalities," he said. In 2025, 108 million euros alone had to be accepted in loans in order to cope with urgently needed investments in school and daycare infrastructures as well as energetic renovations. Gillo emphasized that the mandatory editions for social security, youth welfare and staff continue to rise, while the number of cases supervised by the social welfare office has also exploded. All political groups agree: the cities and municipalities are on the edge of the financial collapse. The debate also says that the federal and state governments will not be able to pass on additional financial obligations to the municipalities in the future, which are not paid or only inadequate. However, an urgently needed regulation for debt relief can only be decided at the federal level, as Roland König (FDP) clarified.European perspectives and local challenges
The financial situation is not just a local problem. In a comprehensive study by the Council of the Communities and Regions of Europe, which was published in cooperation with the KDZ, the situation of municipal finances was examined in 40 countries. The study, titled "Local Finances and the Green Transition", revealed that the cities and municipalities in Europe did better than expected despite the massive challenges due to the financial and Covid 19 crisis. More than three quarters of the municipal expenditure between 2010 and 2020 flowed into essential areas of life such as education and social services. It is striking that local authorities finance more than half of all public investments, even though they only make up a quarter of the total editions. This underlines the central role that the municipalities play in the maintenance of general interest and climate protection.
Despite stable debt at the local level, the study also shows that the financial autonomy of the municipalities is restricted in many European countries. In countries such as Hungary and Spain, the proportion of subnational expenditure has decreased in the total expenditure. There is also a concern in Austria because the municipalities enjoy below average financial autonomy in a European comparison. These findings could give important impulses for the discussion about strengthening municipal finances in Germany and Austria in order to remain able to act in the future and to enable necessary investments.
Saarbrücker Zeitung reported about the high financial burden of the municipalities, while the Council of the municipalities and regions of Europe published its important study on the municipal finances in Europe.
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| Ort | Saarbrücken, Deutschland |
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