After intensive debate, the states submitted detailed statements on the draft bill approved by the Federal Cabinet to strengthen the structure of the coal-producing regions. (Photo: © kodda/123RF.com)
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October 2019
The Federal Council is calling on the Federal Government to amend the draft law it has adopted to strengthen the structures of the coal-producing regions.
The German government should revise the draft law it passed to strengthen the structure of coal-mining regions . This demand has now been made by the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The upper house of parliament welcomes the government's intention to support regions undergoing transformation, but urges greater commitment to the announced measures. The current wording in the draft law allows for significant deviations in the planned funding volume.
Read also: Structural Strengthening Act for Coal Regions passed!
While the draft law mentions a binding legal framework for structural policy support of the regions, it remains vague regarding the amount of funding planned until 2038: "The measures mentioned in the draft law (...) comprise a volume of up to 40 billion euros," it states. This impairs the planning certainty of the affected local authorities, the Federal Council writes in its statement.
The Federal Council demands clear and binding target figures instead of the aforementioned upper limits for support of lignite mining regions and hard coal sites. In the Federal Council's view, the planned funds should not be obtained by reallocating funds from existing programs , but should consist entirely of additionally provided resources . This is because restructuring ongoing programs would be detrimental to other regions and jeopardize the goal of creating comparable living conditions.
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Therefore, the Council recommends the establishment of a structural support fund for lignite mining . "This fund could provide federal funds of around two billion euros annually until 2038 in a binding, transparent, needs-based, and multi-year manner." It would offer the necessary planning security for the lignite-producing states and lead to a reduction in administrative costs.
To compensate for differing economic strengths and promote economic growth in the lignite mining regions, the federal government intends to support Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt with up to €14 billion by 2038 for the Lusatian, Rhenish, and Central German mining regions (see box for distribution key). Further aid is planned for structurally weak locations of hard coal power plants and for the former Helmstedt lignite mining region.
The German government plans to provide €26 billion in direct support to the regions. A major focus will be on expanding transport infrastructure (expansion of federal highways and railways ) and attracting many new research institutions.
The federal government intends to divide the 14 billion euros for the lignite mining areas as follows:
- 43 percent for the Lusatian region (of which 60 percent for Brandenburg and 40 percent for Saxony),
- 37 percent for the Rhineland region,
- 20 percent for the Central German region (of which 60 percent for Saxony-Anhalt and 40 percent for Saxony).
25,8 percent of the funds will go to Brandenburg, 37 percent to North Rhine-Westphalia, 25,2 percent to Saxony and 12 percent to Saxony-Anhalt.
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