As of: February 20, 2024, 4:53 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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Exterior shot of the Federal Constitutional Court.
© Uli Deck/dpa/Symbolbild
Year after year, a lot of money flows from financially strong federal states into the coffers of the so-called recipient states.
But from the perspective of rich Bavaria, this will soon come to an end.
The affected countries are now defending themselves against the Free State's lawsuit.
Bremen/Karlsruhe - Twelve federal states are now fighting back in the dispute with Bavaria over state financial equalization.
They submitted their statement to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on Monday (February 19).
Bavaria's lawsuit could "threaten the existence" of the state of Bremen, said Bremen's Finance Senator Björn Fecker (Greens).
“We will do everything possible, together with the other countries, to maintain the status quo.”
Eleven countries benefit from state financial equalization
The process community includes the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia.
Constitutional lawyer Stefan Korioth from the law faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich represents her before the highest constitutional court.
In July, Bavaria filed its lawsuit against the financial equalization with the Federal Constitutional Court.
The Free State is calling for new regulations because it has borne the greatest burden of the compensation system for years.
More than 18.3 billion euros were redistributed between the 16 federal states last year.
Bavaria paid in almost 9.1 billion euros of this.
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Baden-Württemberg paid almost 4.5 billion euros and Hesse 3.4 billion euros.
Around 934 million euros flowed from Hamburg and a good 320 million euros from Rhineland-Palatinate.
Eleven states benefited from the payments from the compensation: According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin received around 3.8 billion euros, Lower Saxony almost 1.6 billion euros and Bremen almost 771 million euros.
Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia also received money.
(dpa/wal)