The federal government’s eastern affairs minister, Elisabeth Kaiser of the SPD, strongly rebukes Bavarian premier Markus Söder over the dispute on the Länderfinanzausgleich. “Those who routinely talk about merging states or the supposedly unfair Länderfinanzausgleich are striking at the federal solidarity that unites East and West, North and South” she said in the “FAZ” on Friday. “Even states such as Bavaria have historically benefited from the support of their neighbours”.
Kaiser urged that the current system remain unchanged. “Anyone who wishes to bind the country together and make equal living conditions possible in every part of Germany should not shake the existing Länderfinanzausgleich” she said.
Bavaria has long advocated another reform of the financial equalisation scheme. A new regulation came into force in 2020, but in 2023 the state took its case to the Federal Constitutional Court, and last year Söder threatened to exit the system. Only a few days ago, he described the Länderfinanzausgleich as “expensive, unfair and unjust”.
