The FDP Saar makes it clear: The SPD is running a single-party government in Saarland and is still unable to make key decisions for the state. The central local government reform and modernization project by Prime Minister Rehlinger and Interior Minister Jost has failed.
After the long fruitless talks between the state government and the municipal umbrella organizations about the reform of the municipal financial equalization, the FDP Saar and the Young Liberals Saar are calling for an immediate reform roadmap and not only in the next legislative period. Instead of a fundamental reorganization, the state government string together one stopgap solution after another – the sufferers are the cities and municipalities, which can hardly finance their mandatory tasks anymore.
Angelika Hießerich-Peter, State Chairwoman of the FDP Saar: "The failure of the negotiations is not an accident, but the result of four years of procrastination and political timidity.
In view of such despair, it is no wonder that people lose trust in politics. The SPD government also alienates all those who are committed in the municipalities to advance their village or town
The SPD government holds an absolute majority and thus every opportunity to reorganize the financial structure between the state and municipalities – but it has not used it. Instead, it prefers to govern by short-term decisions. The neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate demonstrated the possibility of implementing the reform within three years. Anyone who, as Prime Minister, sends only state secretaries to a requested high-level meeting with the municipalities simply does not take the cities and municipalities seriously. This should also have become clear to the state government: whoever orders, pays. Therefore, no new state law without a complete cost impact assessment for the municipalities.
Julian Brenner, state chairman of the Young Liberals Saar and active city councilor: "I experience every week in local committees what the delayed reform concretely means: When cities like St. Ingbert can only manage mandatory tasks, voluntary activities are the first to die – support for clubs, swimming pools, youth work, culture. This particularly affects young people and rural areas. My generation pays twice: today through disappearing services, tomorrow through the debt arising from ever new cash advances."
The Free Democrats call for a reform roadmap with a fixed date instead of postponing it to the next legislative period. There is a need for an independent assessment of requirements for the municipalities. Every state law must be reviewed for its cost implications for the municipalities, and finally, a reduction in bureaucracy is needed to relieve the municipalities financially and in terms of personnel.
If nothing happens in this direction, the FDP Saar is left with only a sad conclusion: The municipalities in Saarland are suffering terribly every day, and yet the Rehlinger government is unable to work on a quick solution!
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