Association of Cities: Review social standards - "Money is everything"

In view of the financial difficulties faced by many local authorities, the President of the Association of German Cities, Burkhard Jung, is calling for a fundamental reform of the welfare state. In the decades of prosperity, Germany has built up a system that no longer only helps in emergencies.

"We have created a kind of life support system, the state feels responsible for almost every social imbalance," wrote the social democratic mayor of Leipzig in a guest article for "Welt am Sonntag". "As long as the money was there for services and staff, the system worked. But the money has run out."

The dramatic situation is highlighted, for example, by the local authority deficit of around 31 billion euros last year. In 2023, it was only 6.3 billion, and a year earlier there was even a slight plus, he wrote. The municipalities only received a seventh of all state revenue, but were responsible for a quarter of services. "This cannot work in the long term, and it will not work."

Jung: Federal government not interested in care costs

In concrete terms, he denounced the fact that, according to the law, social welfare offices in cities and municipalities have to step in if elderly people are unable to pay their own share of care costs. "Today, the social welfare office is the standard source of funding for the care of old and sick people. This must change," he demanded. Nationwide, the municipalities now have to bear 5.1 billion euros in care costs. The sum is now increasing by 17 percent per year. But the federal government is no longer interested in the costs, complained Jung. The principle must apply again: He who orders, pays.

"Have settled into our federalism"

At the same time, there needs to be a digitalization of the authorities that deserves the name, according to Jung. "Do software solutions for administrations have to be commissioned, developed, tested and evaluated 16 times? No, of course not. But we have settled into our federalism and don't question it."

This week, the Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) brought the merging of federal states into play. He said it was unacceptable that some states were barely viable and had to be paid for by Bavaria and others.