Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) wants to use the chairmanship of the Prime Ministers Conference from October onwards to strengthen the financial resources of the federal states. "This is necessary, because even the financially weaker countries need to breathe," said Söder the SPIEGEL this week on the verge of a visit to the Zugspitze. Eckhardt Rehberg, the budgetary spokesman for the CDU / CSU Bundestag faction, also voiced a clear refusal to the SPIEGEL: "There must be no further federal money for the states".
The federal states needed sufficient funds to carry out their very own tasks, Söder said. Instead, the federal government is using financial incentives more and more design skills. "The Confederation puts shop window amounts in sight to enforce political guidelines." The programs ran out but eventually, additional expenses as for the Kita-expansion remained. "We will talk about federalism," Söder said of his agenda for the presidency. He sees allies for a strong role of the states among others in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse or Saxony.
"The federal burden limit has been reached"
Rehberg urges Söder to stay on "the ground of the facts". Bavaria has been paying debts for years, even the financially weak countries would generate large surpluses. One reason for this is that the federal government has been relieving the federal states of social expenditures and VAT distribution for years, Rehberg said. "The limit of the Federal Government has been reached." It was "dishonest if Prime Minister Söder demanded for the Alliance at the same time the complete abolition of the soli, further increases in spending on defense, massive spending on climate change and no new debt."
Rehberg also criticized the fact that the federal states would sometimes not use federal funds appropriately, for example in social housing or public transport. That was a "scandal".