“We are in solidarity, but not naive,” argues Markus Söder – that’s why Bavaria is suing the state financial equalization. A legitimate move? Or primarily an electoral maneuver?
In the face of new record payments, Bavaria will sue against the state financial equalization. The cabinet decided on the previously announced step three months before the state elections in Munich. “We’re going to Karlsruhe now,” said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) after the cabinet meeting. Bayern need “more money at home” in the future. “Bavarian money is simply better off in Bavaria than in Bremen, Berlin or anywhere else.” The lawsuit should be filed before the summer break, announced the CSU chairman.
“We are and will remain in solidarity, but we are not naive,” said Söder. The compensation system is now “deeply unfair”. Bavaria has already paid in more than 100 billion euros in the past decades and only received a good 3 billion euros. Other countries bought things that Bavaria could not or would not afford. In particular, Söder and Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU) criticized the mathematical betterment of the city states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg in the financial equalization. This means that Bremen is better off per capita than Bayern after the equalizer. Solidarity is being overstated here, said Füracker.
criticism from other states
The current eleven recipient countries and Rhineland-Palatinate, which only recently became a donor country, criticized Bavaria’s lawsuit. Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Finance announced that the decision was taken with great regret. Because only with the financial equalization would the conditions be created to maintain the equality of living conditions and public services nationwide.
Söder had announced the lawsuit against the equalization system, which is now officially called the financial power equalization of the states, for a long time. The opposition accuses the CSU and Free Voters of pure “campaign noise”.
In 2022, 18.5 billion euros were redistributed
As part of the financial equalization between the 16 federal states, around 18.5 billion euros were redistributed last year. With payments of almost 9.9 billion euros, Bavaria again bore by far the largest burden – the Free State alone accounted for more than half of the redistributed money. According to the statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Baden-Württemberg paid almost 4.5 billion euros, and Hesse paid 3.25 billion euros. Hamburg contributed around 814 million euros and Rhineland-Palatinate around 107 million euros. Eleven countries, on the other hand, benefited from compensation payments. Berlin was the largest recipient with around 3.6 billion euros.
In 2013, Bavaria – together with Hesse – had already filed a lawsuit against the state financial equalization system at the time. At that time, too, the lawsuit was decided within sight of the Bavarian election. The two states then withdrew their lawsuit in 2017 after the financial relations between the federal and state governments had been reorganized. The equalization of financial power serves the goal anchored in the Basic Law of creating equal living conditions in Germany.
Söder refers to the “right of termination” in 2030
Söder explained that it was approved at the time because Bavaria had been relieved of more than one billion euros. In fact, the federal government put money into the system at the time without there having been any real major structural reforms. In the meantime, the gap between donor and recipient countries has continued to widen.
Unlike back then, Bavaria is alone with its lawsuit this time – although Söder’s counterparts from Baden-Württemberg and Hesse also consider the current equalization system to be in urgent need of reform. The Bavarian Greens also recently acknowledged the need for reform – but see the lawsuit as a “signal of lack of ideas” and “campaign roar”.
Söder justified the lawsuit – otherwise nothing would move. But he also referred to a “right of termination” in 2030 that had been agreed. From today’s perspective, that would “definitely happen”, also on the part of Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.
Lower Saxony’s Finance Minister Gerald Heere (Greens) said: “We are obviously dealing with a Bavarian election campaign.” It is all the more important that the majority of the countries stand together in solidarity and stick to the existing equalization system.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
