The main topics were adequate funding and support for municipal services of general interest. At least the arguments of the local politicians were appreciated by the members of the Bundestag.
Berlin is now considering giving financially weak municipalities in particular more money in the social sector. In addition, a reorganization of municipal finances is on the agenda in the federal-state talks.
This is how the spokespersons for the alliance, Mülheim's Lord Mayor Dagmar Mühlenfeld and Wuppertal's Lord Mayor Peter Jung, sum up the debate in the Bundestag on the topic of "municipal financing".
The Lord Mayors, Mayors, District Councillors and Treasurers of the Action Alliance of 62 cities, districts and municipalities from seven federal states followed the messages of the speakers from all parliamentary groups with great attention in the guest gallery of the Bundestag. The local politicians represent around eight million inhabitants (10 percent of the total population).
The city leaders, led by Lord Mayors Mühlenfeld and Jung, including Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel, had previously adopted their "2nd Berlin Declaration" at a municipal conference at the Berlin headquarters of the Association of German Cities, presented it to their constituency representatives and forwarded it to the parliamentary group leaders and Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and several ministers.
The local politicians, who presented a united and self-confident front in Berlin, want to check very closely that the announcements made by federal politicians are being kept. They missed the fulfillment of their other main demand for assistance with old debts in order to regain their own creative capacity in the grand coalition's speeches.
They want to continue to fight against this. Mühlenfeld and Jung: "We will keep up the pressure at federal and state level!"
Statement from Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel
"In a very short space of time, the action alliance of 62 cities and municipalities from 7 federal states has succeeded in getting the Bundestag to hold a general debate for the first time on the financial resources of the municipalities and the fact that structurally weak and structurally strong cities are becoming increasingly divided in terms of their living conditions and future opportunities. This political debate was a great success on what remains a rocky road."
The following MPs stated that towns and municipalities are the backbone of our society and our state:
Britta Haßelmann (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Bernhard Daltrup (SPD), Ingbert Liebing (CDU/CSU), Alois Karl (CDU/CSU), Petra Hinz (SPD), Jürgen Hardt (CDU/CSU), Bärbel Bas (SPD), Barbara Woltmann (CDU/CSU), Kerstin Kastner (Die Linke).
The SPD's parliamentary group leader Thomas Oppermann promised to continue the debate culture in the Bundestag once a year. Klingebiel: "The great importance of the municipal level has finally been recognized in Berlin. Next, we are calling for a general debate in the Bundesrat on municipal finances. It is important that the debates are followed by sustainable action."