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."
