The most heavily indebted municipalities in Germany include several from Rhineland-Palatinate. A proposal by Federal Minister of Finance Scholz to reduce debt is therefore well received in the country.
- Duration
- 1:32 min
- Broadcast date
-
Mon,
12/23/2019 - Airtime
- 6 p.m.
- Channel
- SWR television RP
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He was very happy that the federal government wanted to settle half of the municipal debts, the regional manager of the municipal and urban association, Karl-Heinz Frieden, told the SWR.
His association expects the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to participate heavily in the remainder of the financial burden. The affected municipalities with high cash loans could no longer create debt relief on their own, said Frieden.
Dispute over financing debt relief
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) had demanded that around 2,500 heavily indebted cities and municipalities be taken off once. The countries concerned should also participate. He had said that to the Funke media group’s newspapers on Saturday. But there are indications that it will not be that easy: a wild argument has broken out about the old debt relief. Federal states that have put a lot of money into the debt relief of their municipalities in recent years are now making demands on the federal government such as Hesse or Bremen.
Dreyer demands solidarity from countries
The head of government of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), called for the solidarity of the other countries. “You have to support that there is no watering can funding for everyone, only the countries that have highly indebted municipalities are supported,” she told the dpa. The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Finance said they were waiting for details from Berlin on the process of deleveraging. Rhineland-Palatinate would then do its part to solve the problem.
Pirmasens: Debt relief only the first step
The Mayor of Pirmasens, Germany’s most indebted city, Michael Maas (CDU), said taking over old debts could only be a first step. In the second step, solutions would have to be found to prevent municipalities from going into debt in the future.
Maas points out that even if Pirmasens were debt-free in one fell swoop, the city would have piled high again in ten years. The reason is the high social expenditure. Alongside Kaiserslautern and Zweibrücken, Pirmasens is one of the most indebted cities in Germany.
- Duration
- 1:23 min
- Broadcast date
-
Tue,
9.7.2019 - Airtime
- 6 p.m.
- Channel
- SWR television RP
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The federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland could particularly benefit from the old debt aid. According to the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s municipal financial report, the credit burden here is particularly high: in Rhineland-Palatinate at 1,812 euros per inhabitant, in North Rhine-Westphalia at 1,343 euros, and in Saarland even 2,070 euros. In contrast, cash advances hardly play a role in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg – in Bavaria they averaged 14 euros, in Baden-Württemberg 19 euros per inhabitant.
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