Social prices: Association of Cities: Check social requirements – “Money is all” | EUROtoday

In view of the monetary difficulties of many municipalities, the President of the German Association of Cities, Burkhard Jung, is looking for a elementary reform of the welfare state. During its many years of prosperity, Germany has constructed up a system that now not solely helps in emergencies.

“We have created a kind of life support; the state feels responsible for almost every social imbalance,” wrote the social democratic mayor of Leipzig in a visitor article for “Welt am Sonntag”. “As long as the money was there for services and personnel, the system worked. But the money is gone.”

The drama is highlighted, for instance, by the municipal deficit of round 31 billion euros final yr. In 2023 there have been solely 6.3 billion, and a yr earlier there was even a slight enhance, he wrote. The municipalities solely obtain a seventh of all state income, however are liable for 1 / 4 of the providers. “It can’t work out well in the long run, and it won’t work out well.”

Jung: The federal authorities just isn’t considering care prices

Specifically, he denounced the truth that, in keeping with the regulation, social welfare places of work in cities and municipalities need to step in when outdated individuals can’t pay the share of their care prices that they need to bear themselves. “The social welfare office is now the standard source of funding for the care of old and sick people. That has to change,” he demanded. Nationwide, there at the moment are 5.1 billion euros in care prices that municipalities need to bear. The whole is now rising by 17 p.c per yr. But the federal authorities is now not within the prices, complained Jung. The precept should apply once more: whoever orders, pays.

“We have settled into our federalism”

At the identical time, there’s a want for digitalization of the authorities that’s worthy of the title, says 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, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) introduced up the concept of ​​merging federal states. It can’t be the case that some nations are barely viable and need to be paid for by Bavaria and others.