Symposium and publication ‘Financial and budgetary policy in crisis mode’

The commemorative publication ‘Financial and budgetary policy in crisis mode: municipalities as guarantors of public services of general interest in the federal state’ in honour of Prof. Dr. Martin Junkernheinrich was presented on November 5th 2024 in the Ruhr Parliament at the headquarters of the `Regionalverband Ruhr’ in Essen. The corresponding symposium ‘Municipalities in the Polycrisis’ focused on the structural deficits of the federal multi-level system and their implications for the municipalities as providers of public services.

The welcome address by the host, Director Garrelt Duin, was followed by presentations by Ulrich Maly, former Lord Mayor of Nuremberg and former President of the Association of German Cities, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Local Government, Building and Digitalisation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Josef Hovenjürgen and Prof. Dr. Dr. Lars P. Feld, Director of the Walter Eucken Institute, holder of the chair of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economics at Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg. Dominik Frankenberg contributed a short keynote speech on approaches to strengthening municipal finances and took part in the concluding panel discussion on reform perspectives.

The diverse problems of German municipalities became clear: from strained financial resources and staff shortages to increasing overregulation. Possible starting points for the reorganisation of tasks and financial relationships were discussed, including a Federalism Commission III.

The anthology ‘Finanz- und Haushaltspolitik im Krisenmodus’ (Financial and Budgetary Policy in Crisis Mode) picks up on key areas of work from 40 years of municipal finances, which are reflected in Prof. Dr. Martin Junkernheinrich's academic career. As co-editor, Dominik Frankenberg contributed a specialist article on the abatement levies imposed in numerous territorial states and their significance for the inter-municipal distribution of financial resources:
https://www.steiner-verlag.de/Finanz-und-Haushaltspolitik-im-Krisenmodus-Kommunen-als-Garanten-der-oeffentlichen-Daseinsvorsorge-im-Bundesstaat/9783830556220