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A session in the Bundestag (symbol picture)
Photo: Felix Zahn / photothek.net / imago images / photothek
On Thursday, the Bundestag decided on financial aid for the municipalities to compensate for burdens due to the corona crisis.
To this end, the Basic Law was changed in two places with the required two-thirds majority.
The Greens and FDP had already signaled their support for the project before the vote.
The relief takes place on the one hand through the assumption of costs for accommodation and heating in the basic security for job seekers by the federal government.
Here the federal share is to be increased to up to 74 percent.
So far it has been 49 percent.
For the federal government, this means permanent additional costs of around 3.4 billion euros.
Second, the federal and state governments will reimburse the municipalities once for the loss of income from trade tax that is largely due to the corona crisis.
For this, the federal government will initially pay the federal states 6.1 billion euros.
There is additional relief for the East German states with compensation payments for the expenses of the pension insurance from the supplementary pension systems of the former GDR.
Here the federal share rises from 40 to 50 percent.
In a supplementary resolution, the coalition groups emphasize that the new regulations are intended to ensure that the municipalities can continue to do justice to "their role as the most important public investment vehicle" despite the crisis.
In the negotiations on the amendments to the Basic Law, the FDP enforced additional obligations for the states to disclose the data bases for the distribution of the funds to the municipalities.
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pgo / dpa