With the kind request for publication
PM_Landkreis Saarlouis participates with clear signals in the "Municipalities at the Limit" action day
On the nationwide day of action "Municipalities at their Limits" organized by the three leading municipal associations (German Association of Cities, German County Association, and German Association of Towns and Municipalities) on Monday, June 22, 2026, the Saarlouis district also took part with several actions. Important signals were sent to the federal government in many ways to draw attention to the municipalities' financial distress. The budgets of the municipalities are sinking deeper into the red. In the past year alone, municipalities nationwide had to cope with a financing deficit of more than 30 billion euros.
On Monday, the district administration was closed until 11 a.m. due to the day of action. About 600 people took part in an informational event on the Kleiner Markt in the morning for the employees of the district administration, including representatives from district and state politics (among them Interior Minister Reinhold Jost, Finance Minister Jakob von Weizäcker, and Petra Berg, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Mobility, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection), trade unions, and citizens. The event was musically accompanied, among other things, by drum sounds from the group "Gugge Mol."
In many places, the characteristically yellow and black protest posters with inscriptions such as "Empty cash registers are no child's play" or "For sale due to financial distress" and symbolic clocks pointed to the plight of the municipalities; yellow whistles were also used loudly.
The main focus was the speech by Saarlouis District Administrator Patrik Lauer. He is also chairman of the Saarland County Association and vice president of the German County Association, the municipal umbrella organization of the 294 counties in Germany.
The district administrator of Saarlouis clarified the meaning behind the statement that it is "two minutes to midnight" nationwide: “Municipalities and cities are struggling with an enormous structural deficit. This means we cannot balance ongoing expenses with ongoing revenues. We are already forced to operate on a shoestring, but it’s not enough. This huge financial hole threatens to take away any room for maneuver. In practice, this means, for example, less cultural funding, dilapidated roads, poorly equipped schools, insufficient childcare, diminished sports and recreational offerings, and much more. Even school social work cannot take place to the extent it should under this financial situation—and so on and so forth… This crisis directly affects people’s everyday lives, who will gradually feel that services they know and appreciate can no longer be maintained if things continue like this. That is why we initiated this day of action. Something must be done for the municipalities. Because we are backed into a corner—it is truly disastrous.”
And this has not only immediate but also serious structural consequences. If, as a result, the belief in the functionality of the administration and thus also the belief in the state is lost, then this damages democracy, Lauer said. "I consider it dangerous to abandon us at this point and force us to cut back on services for the citizens."
To vividly illustrate how badly the municipalities are doing, there was a striking action during the approximately one-hour information event: Across the crowd, a hospital bed was pushed with impressive musical accompaniment by the two suitably dressed district deputies Bernd Valentin and Walter Klein, containing a mannequin on an IV drip – symbolizing the municipalities and towns that are already "on the drip," as District Administrator Patrik Lauer put it. And, to further emphasize the seriousness of the situation, the "patient municipalities" were given an oxygen mask over their faces in front of District Administrator Lauer and five administrative heads of the district municipalities.
And it did not stop with this action. In the end, District Administrator Lauer made his way to the nearby bus station to symbolically halt bus traffic there as well. He was accompanied by members of the district council and many other participants of the event. The bus stop was achieved by the participants stretching a huge campaign banner in front of the vehicles, preventing them from continuing to drive for two minutes. This was accompanied by a catchy, theme-specific song with the refrain “Who orders, must also pay.” District Administrator Lauer: “This is also intended to illustrate that, in light of the financial crisis, among other things, our public transport as we know it is at risk.”
Already in the run-up to the day of action, various facilities in the district, such as the registration office, job centers, the tourist information, as well as schools and their sports halls, had visually pointed to the campaign. Symbolically, yellow-black barrier tapes "blocked" parts of the entrances, and posters drew attention to the situation that districts, cities, and municipalities are in a historic financial crisis, which, according to District Administrator Lauer, they did not cause themselves: statutory obligations are increasing, but there are not sufficient funds from the federal or state governments to cover these.
Special posts and banners on the social media channels and on the homepage also pointed to the campaign. Additionally, on the day of the campaign, the song "Who orders must also pay" was fed into the phone system as hold music.
Photo credits:
IMG_6246.jpg: District Administrator Patrik Lauer during his speech to the staff and other listeners at the Kleiner Markt in Saarlouis.
IMG_6339_klein.jpg and IMG_6315_klein.jpg: A striking action was used at the information event to highlight the financial distress of the municipalities. According to District Administrator Lauer, they are already "on life support." Hoen
IMG_6227_klein.jpg: At the district event at Kleiner Markt, (from left) District Administrator Patrik Lauer also welcomed Interior Minister Reinhold Jost, Petra Berg, Minister for Environment, Climate, Mobility, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, and Finance Minister Jakob von Weizsäcker.
IMG_6410.jpg: At the end of the event, two buses were symbolically stopped for two minutes.
