Intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) : The German case and German examples Dr. Fritz Schnabel

1. Intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) : The German case and German examples Dr. FritzSchnabel Mezinárodní konference k meziobecní spolupráci 28.11.2013

2. I Joint Administration Joint administration is the most sophisticated performance of IMC, because in its strongest form a full-task transfer of the public service can take place. Thusintermunicipal administrative units would substitute quasi the local self administrative system: but this is only the extreme model. In Germany there exists a wide range of models among the about 1,700 newly created intermunicipal bodies which are active in the 16 German Länder.

3. 1. Legal framework  In Germany's federal system it is up to the federal states (Länder) to organize the constitutional conditions for the local governmental systems.Consequently , the Länder make use of their legislative power in different ways determining the statutes as well as the territorial structure of the local government. This refers to both local levels , the municipalities (Gemeinden)and the counties(Kreise). Within the variation typical of federalism two strategies can be distinguished in respect to territorial structure and in institutional arrangements of IMC.

4. 1.1 large scale territorial reform and IMC on a merely voluntary basis The Länder of Nordrhrein-Westfalen und Hessen, which are among the most urbanisedLänder and together comprise about 30 per cent of the country's entire population ……….. In the case of Nordrhein - Westfalen the average size of the municipalities reaches 44,000 inhabitants (the average in Germany is 6,690 and 75% municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants)…………………………………..

5. 1 .2. Small scale territorial reform and IMC on a compulsory basis On the other hand , most (West German ) Länder and East German Länder, following German unification, also decided to embark upon "softer" territorial reform strategies by choosing to carry out minor or even no mergers and instead establishing intermunicipal bodies whose members, the (small) municipalities, were bound to join. The soft strategy differs from Land to Land . In Baden - Württemberg small municipalities could escape from law-based territorial reform when they joined an intermunicipal cooperation, however this voluntary action was sanctioned by law with no chance of withrawl.

6. Sachsen In Sachsen all muncipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants had to be merged. The others with a size less than 3,000 inhabitants in rural areas and 5,000 in agglomerations were merged or became members of a intermunicipal body in a compulsory way. Rheinland-Pfalz Rheinland-Pfalz has executed the administrative reform without a territorial reform. Instead, it invented a remarkably innovative organizational form of IMC when so called Verbandsgemeinden (federated municipalities ) were established. The upper tier of municipality, which comprises a certain amount of member- municipalities, resembles a local goverment system whose council members are directly elected as is the mayor.

7. 2. Two types of IMC bodies In a formal sense one can differentiate between a two -tier type of intermuncipal bodies and aone tier-arrangement. 2.1 Vertical structured intermuncipal body In the two-tier type a special body is created with its own personal staff under an administrative director, who is appointed by their governing board. 2.2. Horizontal structure Even though, the joint adminstration is organized without establishing an additional administrative authority, the particular member unit (usually the largest member) is still designated to be in charge of carrying out administrative tasks on behalf of the other members of the this intermunicipalitie body.

8. 2.3. scope of action and internal structure of these two organizational types In some Länder only one type is enacted by law. In the Northern Länder like Schleswig –Holstein and Niedersachsen only the vertical type exists. Baden-Württemberg, Sachsen und Bayern exercise both types.(Formally Rheinland-Pfalz also belongs to the vertical type). In both cases the budget of the intermunicipalorganisation is funded by the member municipalities. The main difference between both types of joint adminstrativeorganisation lies in the organisational and staff managing power, for conducting their tasks the vertical type has its own staff operating under an administrative director who is appointed by their governing board.

9. These two forms of intermunicipal bodies differ very much in its institutional arrangement , buffulfil the same functions:the upper-tier authority respective the designated administration fulfil tasks which are no longer to the discretion of the other members. Those tasks may differ very much from Land to Land. In Baden-Württemberg and Bayern there are very soft versions of IMC. Only the mandatory tasks( e.g. registry office) of the municipality are delegetad to the upper unit resp. the designated adminstrative member-unit. Among the self government tasks only the prepatory land-use plan is obligatorily a joint adminstrative task. Providing the operational support can be delegated voluntarily , the member-municipalities are not forced to do so, if they can realise it by own means and resources.

10. The hard version exists in most Länder,e,g. in Sachsen. Not only the mandatory tasks have to be delegated to the intermuncipal bodies, but all selfgovernment tasks(e.g. financial management) are implemented by the intermunicipal bodies, which provide operational support to their member municipalities compulsorily. In reality this means for example for the financial management that the draft budget and the financial management is exclusively the task of the intermunicipal bodies. The competence of the member municipality is restricted to the political decision to approve the budget.

11. II Other Types of IMC and examples Other than merging, joint administration is thehighest degree of integration between municipalities. In so far it determines how the citizens perceive their local community in political terms. The second feature concerns service delivery organizations and service delivery agreements(whether in a single or multipurpose arrangement) which are normally near to the people's needs.

12. Planning forums and working groups are often further away from the people's perception. Normally these interactions are all organized voluntarily . However, assuming that the public actors are pursuing their interests in a rational and goal-oriented strategy, interaction will only take place if costs and benefits of the actions are matching. As the practice shows IMC comes in all shapes , sizes and nearly all fields, so these specific results seem to reflect costs and benefits rather in the way of perception than in real terms.

13. Example: music education Meißen music education(outside the school education) belongs to the voluntary tasks of the local selfgovernment authorities. In rural areas there is usually a limited supply by the county administration and this only in the central town. In county Meißen a special agreement between county and all villages supplies for a widespread music education in all villages where pupils are expressing their interest.The question of costs (e.g. the provision of roooms is met by the municipalities) is dealt with in terms of contract as a joint task.

14. Example: Green Belt Leipzig The former central -German lignite mining areas are to be transformed and delevopped from an open cast mining area into a lake district area. This is the task of the Green- Belt of Leipzig , a voluntarily working group of the city of Leipzig, 11 surrounding municipalities and two counties, NGOs, citizens and companies. The main topics are the management of landscape and recreation , floral reconstruction and tourism, lakes for recreational areas, establishing compensational areas etc. The working group has sucessfully regulated land use for the whole area and has planned its infrastructure by binding the members with reference to their decisions.

15. Thank you for your attention and I wish you success for your conference