AER STUDY ON THE STATE OF REGIONALISM IN EUROPE (2014) COUNTRY REPORT ON GERMANY

PART ONE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Germany is a federal state, composed of 16 regions (Länder). Federalism in Germany has a long history going back to the medieval Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Organizing the state in this manner also played a role in the German unification process during the nineteenth century. After the dark period of the centralizing Third Reich, since 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany has once again followed the federal traditions; first in the eleven Länder of West Germany, and then, since 1990, also in the five new Länder in the East created out of the former, centralized German Democratic Republic.1

The federal structure in 1949 was designed by representatives of the already existing Länder in the Parliamentarian Council (Parlamentarischer Rat) under Western Allied supervision. Some Länder could keep their traditional structures after 1945, like Bayern, Hamburg and Bremen. Others were formed from smaller regions or were the result of the deconstruction of the former Prussian state. The new German constitution was ratified by the parliaments of the Länder between 18 and 21 May and announced on 23 May 1949. Only the Bavarian parliament (Landtag) did not 1 The Länder Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern fused in 1952 to Baden-Württemberg. The Land Saarland joined the Federal Republic in 1957 and the five “New Länder” in 1990. Since then the 16 existing Länder are the following: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen.

accept it, but a majority of two thirds of the parliaments was sufficient for the new constitution to come into being. Due to the absence of East Germany it was called “Basic Law” (Grundgesetz) to show its provisional character.

The federal principle is fixed in Article 20 of the Basic Law and cannot be changed (Article 79, III). The original intent was to establish a decentralized federal structure based on a strict separation of powers and finances for each level of government, where all power is contributed to the Länder unless otherwise mentioned in the Basic Law (Article 30). However, the most important policies mentioned are to be found in the exclusive jurisdiction of the central state (Bund) or organized in a system of joint Bund-Länder responsibility (competing legislation and framework legislation). The development from the beginning showed that the Federal Republic gradually assumed unitary characteristics as the two separated levels of government merged in many areas. Another reason for unification was the extensive cooperation between the Länder. In these processes we can thereby see the very dominant role of the executives across all political levels. Aside from many minor steps and certain decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), a more significant reform in the 1960s strengthened these centralizing processes which were facilitated through a vast ethno-linguistic homogeneity in Germany and respectively unimportant regionally bounded ethnic, linguistic or cultural differences. Furthermore a system of financial equalization was established in 1955 to guarantee equal living conditions throughout the country, which was a key proposal of the Basic Law (Article 72). In more recent years, one could hjghlight the centralizing trends that have emerged from EU legislation.

The reform of 1969 strengthened the cooperative federalism with the introduction of common tasks, such as the Joint Agreement for the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures or in higher education, with a common funding of projects through Bund and Länder. Therefore the tax on offer was being converted, like other important taxes, to a combined federal and Länder tax (big revenue sharing system). On the basis of this reform the interlocking system of political cooperation peaked in the 1970s. Resulting problems, which will be discussed in later chapters, have led to reflections since the 1980s to overcome this system. However, the reforms which followed didn’t resolve the fundamental deficiencies. The next opportunity for a re-federalization appeared with the constitutional reform of 1993/94, when the joining of the five new Länder in the context of the German unification made it necessary to adjust the Basic Law. But the changes were only marginal, for example the renaming of the already mentioned constitutional aim of “equal living conditions” into “equivalent living conditions”.

In 2005 the Commission on Modernization of the Federal System initiated so-called stage 1 of a new federalism reform. The objective was to create a clearer division of powers, respective competences between the central state and the Länder. This was partly achieved through abolishing the framework legislation and the transferal of a few competences in the jurisdiction of the Länder. In 2008 the Commission on the Modernization of Federation-Länder Financial Relations (stage 2 of the federalism

reform) was mainly focused on achieving a clearer division of the vertical and horizontal financial relations between Bund and Länder, this was not successful. The only positive result was the compromise of a future ban on making further debts.

However, all the above-mentioned reforms did not change the fundamental characteristics of the German federal system with its Unitarian tendencies. The Bundesländer, like other central political regions in Germany, are strong but remain within the confines of a centralizing political culture which has not changed profoundly throughout the history of the Second German Republic. To what extent the ongoing European integration favours either the central state or the Länder is still controversial in political science.

PART TWO: PRESENT SITUATION

2.1. Legalaspects

The 16 Länder, as the first political subnational units, are listed in the preamble of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany.2 All Länder have not only fully-developed autonomous legislative, executive and juridical bodies but also their own constitution. This reflects the own state character of each Land, even though their constitutional regime has to be based on the principles of the Basic Law (Article 28). Most of the Länder are governed by a cabinet and led by a Minister-President, together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet) which is directly elected. The Länder are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of the federal system. The legislatures are popularly elected for five years (Bremen: four), and the Minister-President is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag's members. The Minister-President appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the state's government. Bayern, Sachsen and Thüringen describe themselves as a “Freistaat” (free state), but this has no constitutional significance and do not change the equal legal status of the Länder. Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are “Stadtstaaten” (city-states) while the other Länder are “Flächenländer” (regions with a larger area). The population of the Länder reaches from about 660.000 people (Bremen) to about 18 Millions (Nordrhein-Westfalen).

The Länder are equivalent with the regions of the NUTS-1-Level in the NUTS-System3 of the European Union used in its regional policy. Because of the different size of the Länder this consistent classification is loosened at the level of NUTS 2. There are 39 Regions in Germany belonging to this level: 19 administrative districts (Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen), ten former administrative districts (Rheinland-Pfalz, Niedersachsen, Sachsen), two non-administrative regions (Brandenburg) and eight Länder which are too small for further subdivision meaning that here NUTS 2 is identical with NUTS 1 (Berlin, Hamburg,

2 Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 in the latest version of 11 July 2012 under: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bundesrecht/gg/gesamt.pdf or http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/aufgaben/rechtsgrundlagen/grundgesetz/index.html.3 NUTS: Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques.

Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen, Thüringen).

On the basis of Article 30 and Article 70 of the Basic Law, following policies are effectively remaining in the jurisdiction of the Länder: culture, media, education, regional planning and inner security / police in the region. In a lot of other policies the Länder have the right to make laws as long as the Bund doesn’t make use of it on its own. These are for example migration, employment law, infrastructure, public welfare, navigation, criminal and civil law or environment. In some cases the Länder have the right to deviate from existing federal regulations (hunting, protection of the environment for instance).

In the context of public finance, the Länder have no own “Steuerfindungsrecht” (autonomous tax authority). That means there is no tax competition. The taxes and their distribution are determined by the federal government and parliament, but only with the approval of the Bundesrat, the legislative chamber that represents the Länder. The most important taxes are shared and represent about 70 percent of all taxes: Thus the corporation tax is divided 50-50 between the federal and Land levels; the individual income tax is divided so that the federation and Länder receive 42.5 percent each and the municipalities 15 percent. The distribution of the value added tax (VAT) is more complicated. The federation receives 5.63 percent for old age pensions and municipalities receive 2.2 percent in compensation for the elimination of the capital business tax; the remaining 92.17 percent are divided between the federation, which receives 50.5 percent, and the Länder, which receive the remaining 49.5 percent. There is also a local business tax that is shared among the three levels. In the following figure you can see the distribution of all taxes between the territorial authorities. The Länder aggregate all in all about 40 percent of the revenues.

Source: Federal Ministry of Finance.4

4 Figure under http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Monatsberichte/Standardartikel_Migration/2011/06/analysen-und-berichte/b04-struktur-und-verteilung-der-steuereinnahmen/struktur-und-verteilung-der-steuereinnahmen.html.

The exclusive revenues for the Länder come from inheritance tax, beer tax and certain transactional taxes. The Länder have fully financial autonomy concerning their expenses, naturally restricted through their own legislative obligations. Their budgets range from about four Billion (Saarland) to about 65 Billion Euro (Nordrhein-Westfalen). The next figure shows the Länder budgets of the year 2013 (left column of numbers).

Source: Official Statistics of the Bund and the Länder.5 A typical characteristic of the federation is the vertical and horizontal financial equalization system. The first manages the allocation between the federal state and the Länder as a whole, the second is an interregional mechanism between the Länder. Transfers from the richer to the poorer Länder are made by complicated procedures until the poorer Länder have reached 95 percent of the average revenues for all Länder. Finally, federal supplementary grants are provided to the poorer Länder in order to bring them up to 99.5 percent of the average. Donor Länder are at the time of writing only Bayern, Baden-Württemberg and Hessen. All the others are receiving money from the financial equalization system which covers in its vertical and horizontal dimension a sum of ca. 19.5 Billion Euro (2013).

A central aspect for the cooperation in Germany is the participation of the Land governments via the Bundesrat (Federal Council) in the federal legislative process. The Bundesrat has gained veto rights over up to 60 percent of federal legislation until the first decade of the 21st century. After the federal reform in 2006 it is estimated that it will go back to 30-40 percent. This extensive right of co-determination is based on the fact that the Länder are responsible for the implementation not only of their own legislation but also mainly of the federal legislation as the Bund has almost none of its own far-reaching administrative infrastructures. In matters of European integration, the Länder also participate via the Bundesrat when their sphere of 5 Figure under http://www.statistik-portal.de/Statistik-Portal/de_jb24_jahrtab58.asp.

responsibility is concerned. The procedures of this right are specified in Article 23 of the Basic Law. It gives the Bundesrat an opportunity to state its opinion before the federal government participates in the EU legislative process. If the federal government has exclusive power but the interests of the Länder are affected, the federal government must take into account the opinion of the Bundesrat. Where autonomous rights of the Länder are affected, the opinion of the Bundesrat shall prevail while keeping in mind the overall responsibility of the federal government. Where exclusive legislative authority of the Länder is involved, the Federal Republic shall be represented in the EU councils by a representative of the Länder sent by the Bundesrat. In this case the representation shall take place with the participation of the federation. The development of possibilities for Länder participation in European politics within the federal state over the years is primarily connected to the Bundesrat as a collective institution. Here are some important milestones:

1956 Länder observer

1957 EU-Committee of the Bundesrat (several names over the decades)

1979 New Länder participation procedures

1986 Bundesrat participation procedures in context with the Single European Act

1992 New formulation of Article 23 Basic Law

2006 Federal reform I: New formulation of Article 23 Basic Law and rules of joint liability relating to EU-breach of rule

2009 Treaty of Lisbon: control rights and right of action for the Bundesrat and the Committee of Regions in relation to subsidiarity at European Court of Justice

2009 Important laws in relation to Treaty of Lisbon

Source: own description.6 At the European level, there are essentially two further ways for the Länder of expressing their interests. In the Committee of the Regions 21 of 24 German seats are reserved for the Länder: one for each Land (16) and the other five in rotation. The remaining three seats are filled by municipal and local peak associations. The second way is the lobbying via own Länder agencies in Brussels which have been established since the 1980s. In general, foreign policy is an exclusive competence of the federal state. But in fields in which the Länder are responsible, they are allowed - with the agreement of the Bund - to transfer sovereignty rights to trans-border institutions (Article 24 Basic Law). Beyond that, the Länder have the right to sign treaties with other countries in their areas of legislation, again with the agreement of the federal state (Article 32 Basic Law). With regard to the municipalities, counties 6 Based on: Sturm, Roland / Pehle, Heinrich 32012: Das neue deutsche Regierungssystem, Wiesbaden, page 88.

and districts, there is the principle of communal self-administration. Nevertheless, the Länder have the authority to issue directives or to transfer administrative tasks onto the local level.

Another important part of cooperation is the coordination that takes place among Land cabinet officers and high-level bureaucrats, e.g., via the conference of Land prime ministers or the conference of education and cultural ministers, as well as via conferences of Land and federal officials. In European affairs, it is respectively the conference of European ministers. Each Land has meanwhile institutionalized a minister or state secretary whp is responsible for the coordination of regional European politics in the different ministerial and administrative units; not forgetting the committees of the regional parliaments which deal with European politics and shall control the governments.

As a result of the participation of the Land governments in the legislative process via the Bundesrat and the numerous conferences involving federal and Land officials, references are frequently made to the German system of “participatory federalism” or “executive federalism.” Also “administrative federalism” is often used to describe the functional allocation of tasks in Germany.

2.2. Regions at work

2.2.1. Democracy

The interlocking system of political cooperation in Germany gets often in the way of a principle which is closely connected to regions and democracy: subsidiarity. There are not many possibilities or impulsions for the Länder to do things on their own and the system is too complex due to so much “Politikverflechtung” and the lack of accountability and transparency. The Länder have too little fiscal autonomy, and the poorest have little incentive to govern with more cost efficiency when they can count on equalization payments in any case, or, from the perspective of the richer Länder, there may be less incentive to promote economic development if much of the additional tax revenue will have to be given to the poorer Länder (a majority). Related to this issue is the growing influence of the EU on the legislative authority of both the federation and the Länder. It is estimated today that 30 to 50 percent of legislation is now based on EU regulations, and there are a number of examples of EU regulations affecting the authority of the Länder in areas reserved to them such as education and vocational training. For this reason many Land prime ministers and others have expressed their concern about (or even opposition to) the reach of EU regulations and their impact on the autonomy of the Länder.

A strong possibility for more democracy within the Länder would be a more balanced relationship between the Länder governments and the Länder parliaments. The governments are the winners of the cooperative federalism in all of its dimensions. The policies, in which the Länder parliaments can decide autonomously, are getting smaller and in the fields which are transferred to or influenced by the national and European level, the parliaments are usually just informed. The Länder prime ministers are elected by and responsible to the Länder parliaments. But these

provisions, which are laid down in the Länder constitutions7, cannot counterbalance the bias in favor of the executives.

There are not many political parties in Germany who stand for a certain region. The party system is rather centralized and the regional divisions of all parties listen more or less to what the particular federal organization pretends. The biggest exception is the CSU (Christian Social Union) in Bayern governing the Land most of the time since the Second World War. It defends special Bavarian interests and builds a parliamentary group with the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) in the national parliament, the Bundestag. There is furthermore the Bayernpartei (Bavarian party) with an even stronger focus on Bavarian issues but its proportion of the voters never went over two percent in the last 40 years. In Schleswig-Holstein the national minorities of the Danes and partly of the North Frisians are represented in the SSW (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband) which is not subject to the five percent barrier like the other parties to gain seats in parliament. This arrangement is also applied to the Sorbs and their Lausitzer Allianz (Lausitzer Alliance) in Brandenburg but not in Sachsen. The abandonment of the five percent barrier is not executed for the party “Die Friesen” (the Frisians) in Niedersachsen either. The national minorities of the Danes, Frisians and Sorbs are too small to play an important role in regional politics and party systems.

The electoral systems of the Länder are geared towards the federal electoral system, the so-called personalized or mixed member proportional representation, with a five percent barrier except for the above-mentioned national minorities. Only Bremen and Saarland use a simple proportional system. In Bayern the voter has the additional chance to change the order of the, in other respects, fixed list of party candidates. In Brandenburg, Bremen and Hamburg the age of active voting is 16 instead of 18 while in Hessen the age of being elected must be at least 21 instead of the common 18 years. Only the Länder parliaments are elected directly, no prime minister or any other political office has a direct legitimation by the people.

The federal level in Germany doesn’t know elements of direct democracy. There are only two exceptions: If the number or shape of the Länder is to be changed, the affected people have to be asked. The second exception would be the case of replacing the Basic Law through a new constitution. The Länder, in contrast, have developed from 1946 (Bayern) to 1996 (Hamburg) different forms of direct democracy and fixed popular legislation in the constitutions. Those are first of all the instruments of initializing petitions for a referendum respectively concluding referendums themselves. However, from the 1950s to the 1980s these forms of direct democracy were rarely used. It was not until the 1990s that an increased rethinking in society lead to a more active use of it. Hence, more than 90 percent of all regional referendums have been taking place since 1990. The process of creating or changing laws is normally divided into three steps: a first and a second initializing step and the terminal voting.

The Länder vary considerably in requesting a different quorum in each step as well as in using different time limits and allowing possible issues. The quorum in the second initializing step ranges from 3.8 (Brandenburg) to 20 percent (Hessen, Schleswig-Holstein) of the eligible voters. In the terminal voting the necessary quorum of approval by the eligible voters varies from none (Bayern, Hamburg,

7 A corpus of all Länder constitutions in: Pestalozza, Christian 92009: Verfassungen der deutschen Bundesländer, München.

Hessen, Sachsen: a simple majority of the actually voting people is sufficient) to 50 percent (Schleswig-Holstein). The time period to hit the first quorum lies between 14 days (Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Schleswig-Holstein) and one year (Nordrhein-Westfalen). In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern there is even no time limit. Examples of relevant issues in the last years are education policy, protection of non-smokers or projects of infrastructure and their privatization respectively re-socialization. Bayern and Hessen additionally have the form of an obligatory referendum if the constitution of the Land is going to be changed.

The voter turnout on the federal level dropped to ca. 70 percent in the last two elections of the Bundestag, after reaching its peak of 90 percent in the 1970s. The participation rates in the Länder are usually much lower. The average turnout lies between 50-70 percent. This mirrors the lower relevance of the regional level in the eyes of most people. Many results in the empirical electoral research manifest that the voters often evaluate actual federal policies in the Länder elections, which are therefore sometimes marked as “second order elections”. The following figure lists the turnout of the last regional elections in each case (status: January 2013).

Source: statista.8 To establish and maintain a regional public and identity, you need, as an important prerequisite, regional media. Regional, decentralized structures in this context do exist, not least due to the fact that media policy is one of the main competences of the Länder. With regard to television, the first national public program is principally the sum or “umbrella organization” of the individual regional units which send their own program in the Länder at a time. But not all Länder have their own broadcasting corporation: Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are working together, as well as Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz or Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen. But in 1959 the federal government initialized the establishment of a second national television channel (1961) where the role of the Länder is not as strong as in the first channel. In the 1980s, private broadcasting emerged and challenged the dominant position of public

8 Figure under: http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/255400/umfrage/wahlbeteiligung-bei-landtagswahlen-in-deutschland-nach-bundeslaendern/

television. The situation in the field of radio is similar, the biggest difference is the division in corporations and programs to a larger extent.

In the area of print media, the meaning of the Länder is just another one. On the one hand you have important national newspapers and magazines and on the other hand local print media which stand for a certain region within a Land but not for it as a whole. All in all general processes of concentration in the media that can be observed in Germany - as in other countries - lead to a loss of regional diversity. The global Internet plays its part in this context and enforces the situation.

2.2.2. Diversity

In Germany, the cultural identity is quite homogenous. The traditional ethnic respectively linguistic minorities cover only a few thousand people in a population of about 80 Millions. 50.000 people of the Danish national minority are living in the Schleswig part of Schleswig-Holstein. The Frisians with the status of an ethnic group settle mainly in areas of the North Sea coast, their number can only be estimated. About 60.000 Sorbs can be found in Sachsen and Brandenburg. The settlement areas of these three groups can be seen on the following map:

Source: federal ministry of the interior.9 The fourth recognized national minority are the Sinti and Romanies (ca. 70.000). They, like all the other immigrated minorities since the Second World War, don’t have a geographical core area. The rights of autochthonous minorities are fixed in the 9 Under: http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Broschueren/2010/natmin.pdf?__blob=publicationFile.

constitutions of Sachsen, Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The mentioned minorities cooperate since 2005 on the federal level in the office and in the council of minorities. Their aim is to enforce regulations about their minority rights also in the Basic Law.

In respect of religion, the northern Länder are mainly affected by Protestantism whereas the southern ones are predominantly catholic and the East is largely atheistic. Most of the Länder were created after 1945 and do not have a historically tightened identity (only Bayern, Hamburg and Bremen). Almost all of the new created Länder are so called “Bindestrich-Bundesländer” (hyphen-Länder) because older German regions were connected to new ones. However, the history of the Federal Republic doesn’t know any separatism. In economic terms the per-capita-income varies not inessentially between the Länder but is equalized through the system described under chapter 2.1. The next scheme reveals the differences (per-capita-income in 2011 in Euro):

Source: Initiative for a New Social Market Economy.10 2.2.3. EU Regional and Neighborhood Policy

Researchers in political science and law disagree about the amount of laws which are influenced through the European level. The estimations reach from 30-50 percent. That is not very accurate and depends on how one understands “influence”.

10 Figure under http://www.bundeslaenderranking.de/charts/s_verfuegbares-einkommen_best.gif.

But it is far away from popular beliefs that 50-80 percent of the laws affecting the citizens in Europe have their origin in Brussels and Strasbourg. Nevertheless, in the field of regional policy, the European Union has a far-reaching influence on the policy of Bund and Länder.

Article 91a of the Basic Law in Germany rules the Joint Agreement for the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures between the federal level and the Länder. In the first years of EU regional policy, the efforts of the national and regional levels on the one hand and of the European level on the other hand proceeded parallel. Today, there is greater cooperation to improve the situation in indigent regions. Both the federal government and the regional governments negotiate with the European Commission about the tolerated use of own financial means. For the granting of funds to applicants and the evaluation of programs, the Länder are responsible. The cooperation between the EU and the Länder is principally based on partnership but the Länder often criticize the strict controlling of grants through the Commission which doesn’t give enough leeway to the regions; a clear antagonism to the principle of subsidiarity. The changes in the general system of decision-making in the German regional policy can be seen in the following summary:

Period Tiers of decision Interdependence of the tiers

1949-1972 2 (Länder and Bund) Marginal

1972-1975 2 (Länder and Bund) Big and integrated

1975-1979 3 (Länder, Bund, EC) Länder – Bund big and integrated, Länder/Bund – EC marginal, passive role of Europe

1979-1988 3 (Länder, Bund, EC) Länder – Bund big and integrated, Länder/Bund – EC marginal, active role of Europe

1988-1994 3 (Länder, Bund, EC) Länder – Bund big and integrated, Länder/Bund – EC big

1994-today 3 (Länder, Bund, EU) Länder – Bund – EU big and integrated

Source: own description.11 The current period 2014-2020 provides about 19.2 Billion Euro for the German Regions. In the funding period 2007-2013 Germany received ca. 26.3 Billion Euro: 16.1 Billion for target-1-regions (mainly East Germany), 9.4 Billion for target-2-regions (West Germany) and 0.85 Billion for the territorial cooperation. The Länder actually take part in 14 cross-border and five transnational programs. 11 Based on: Sturm, Roland / Pehle, Heinrich 32012: Das neue deutsche Regierungssystem, Wiesbaden, page 310.

Transnational areas of cooperation

Area Participating Länder

“Alpine Space” Baden-Württemberg, Bayern

“Central Europe” Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen

“North Sea” Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein

“North West Europe” Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland

“Baltic Sea” Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein

Source: own description.12

Areas of cross-border cooperation

Area / Program Participating Länder

Germany – Netherlands Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen

Germany – Netherlands – Belgium (Euregio Maas Rhein)

Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz

Germany – France – Belgium – Luxemburg (Grande Région)

Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland

Germany – France – Switzerland (Rhin supérieur – Oberrhein)

Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz

Germany – Switzerland – Austria – Liechtenstein (Alpenrhein – Bodensee – Hochrhein)

Baden-Württemberg, Bayern

Germany – Austria Bayern

Germany – Czech Republic I Bayern

Germany – Czech Republic II Sachsen

Germany – Poland I Sachsen

Germany – Poland II Brandenburg

12 Based on: Printed matter of the Bundestag 16/13950 (8 September 2009).

Germany – Poland III Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg

Germany – Denmark – Sweden – Poland – Lithuania (South Baltic)

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Germany – Denmark I Schleswig-Holstein

Germany – Denmark II Schleswig-Holstein

Source: own description.13 Another more informal, kind of cooperation is REGLEG, a political network of regions with legislative power. Representatives of 73 regional governments across eight member states of the EU have here the chance to work together. Above all the bigger German Länder often use this platform to bundle their interests with other strong regions.

PART THREE: CONCLUSION

As described in Chapter 1 the previous reforms of the German federalism have not been successful in solving the basic problems of the whole system. Hence, a “Federal Reform III” – aimed for 2017-2019 – will be necessary to give the regions the chance to act as more independent entities at last. Such a new reform would have to tackle a vital and basic rearrangement of the financial relations respectively revenue equalization between Bund and Länder. Besides, the “Solidarpakt” (treaty of solidarity), an agreement between Bund and Länder to improve the situation for the New Länder through federal grants, will expire in 2019. Further issues are a new form of cooperation in the policy of education, a better and clearer allocation of competences and still the question of reshaping the Länder. The multiplicity of topics and actors, which have to approve and are afraid of losing vested rights, make it difficult to calculate the possible outcome of this process.

More obvious are in contrast the strategies of the Länder in European politics. Four main paths can be distinguished:14

a. The further development of intra-state participation rights especially by the

Bundesrat b. The collaboration in the Committee of the Regions c. A discrete “Länder foreign policy” d. The defense of the Länder autonomy and the principle of subsidiarity

The first three can be characterized as “leave-us-in” strategies and the fourth as a “leave-us-alone” strategy. Depending on what institutional and socio-economic potential and desire for autonomy a region has, these paths are used differently and

13 Based on: European Commission, under: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/germany/crossborder/index_de.htm.14 See Grasnick, Jan 2007: Regionales Regieren in der Europäischen Region, Wiesbaden, page 201ff. or Sturm, Roland / Pehle, Heinrich 32012: Das neue deutsche Regierungssystem, Wiesbaden, page 103.

lead to manifold styles of politics. In the figure below, Länder like Bayern can be classified as “subsidiary” whereas most of the other Länder have to be qualified as going into the direction of “technocratic”.

Source: Sturm / Bauer 2010.15

To what extent the ongoing financial and economic crisis in Europe will change the strategy, political style and regional democracy in general is not easy to say. The German Länder, in any case, are not affected by the crisis in a severe manner. In comparison to other regions in Europe they will maintain a leading role in the coming years of further regionalization in many parts of the continent.

15 Sturm, Roland / Bauer, Michael 2010: Governance und Regionen – Die theoretische Debatte, in: Roland Sturm / Jürgen Dieringer (Hrsg.): Regional Governance in EU-Staaten, Opladen / Farmington Hills, page 27.

Author: Jan Grasnick, Dr. Phil. Research Assistant at the Professorship of Comparative Politics / Institute for Canadian Studies at the University of Augsburg, Germany 86135 Augsburg, Germany E-Mail: jan.grasnick@phil.uni-augsburg.de