englisch

Local Government Central Association of the German Landkreise on Federal Level

There are three local government central associations in the Federal Republic of Germany: besides the Deutscher Landkreistag which includes all the 301 Landkreise there are the Deutscher Städtetag (German Association of Cities and Towns) and the Deutscher Städte und Gemeindebund (German association of towns and municipalities).

They represent matters of public interest. They differ from other association organizations, particularly from vocational and subject-related bodies and interest groups, in that their direct and indirect members, just as with the federation and Länder, are territorial administrative entities, the organs of which bear general political responsibility for their territory.

In our federally arranged State structure, the municipalities, towns, cities and Kreise form the third tier of public administrations. With the Federal Government and the member states ( Länder) they have in common the fact that their objectives are formulated within representative bodies of the people resulting from general, direct, free, equal and secret elections. This state of affairs also characterizes the work of the local government central associations.

The central task of the local government central associations lies in promoting local government self-administration guaranteed by the Basic Law to the Landkreise, cities and municipalities, in encouraging the exchange of useful experiences and in presenting, before the State and the public, the common interest of all local government bodies to their best advantage. In order to simplify and coordinate collaboration between the associations, the local government central associations have come together, at federal level, to form a joint working party: the Federal Union of Local Government Central Associations.

Federally organized

In accordance with the Federal Republic's federal structure, the Deutscher Landkreistag is also organized along federal lines. Its direct members are the Landkreis associations in the 13 member states of our nation which are not city states of responsibility correspond to the German Landkreistag on the federal level:

The Landkreis sector embraces around 96 % of the surface area of the Federal Republic of Germany. At present, it has just under 56 mio inhabitants living within it, i. e. around 68 % of the total population of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Landkreise - like the municipalities - are assigned to the Länder ( member states) under constitutional law. Yet there are close ties extending into the federal sector.

The majority of the federal laws are executed by local government territorial entities. For the realization of its political objectives, the federation is dependent upon the cooperation of the local government side. Hence, the municipalities and the Landkreise are also incorporated into modern cooperative federalism. Whereas the Länder, under the basic law, have the opportunity, through the Bundesrat (Upper Chamber of the Parliament), to participate in the legislating administration of the federation, local government self-administration makes it cooperation available to the organs of the federal legislator - Federal Government, German Federal Parliament (Bundestag), and Bundesrat - through the local government central associations.

The collaboration between the federal government and the local government central associations has been regulated within the Joint Standing Orders of the Federal Ministries. A similar regulation can be found within the Standing Orders of the German Federal Parliament. Both Standing Orders ensure that the representatives of local government central associations are involved and consulted in good times by the Federal Government and the committees of the Federal Parliament in connection with legislative projects affecting local government interests.

The Deutscher Landkreistag covers, with its defined tasks, the full breadth of local government functions and represents the interests of the German Lankreise towards the Federal Government, the Federal Parliament and the Bundesrat.

The ongoing business of this continuous collaboration is handled by the head office in Berlin. The administration of the task areas is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Secretary (Hauptgeschäftsführer), the heads of departments (Beigeordnete) and the Sectional Heads (Referenten).

The local government central associations participate in decision-making or advisory capacity, partly on the basis of express legal arrangement, on a number of boards and institutions of the Federation and the Länder. In this connection, particular importance can be attached to the Financial Planning Council, the Economic Planning council and the Bund-Länder Council for Educational Planning and Research Support, as well as to the Concerted Action in the Health Service Group.

Internally, within the association, the Deutscher Landkreistag has an information function vis-à-vis its members. It informs the Land-level Landkreis Associations and also - where necessary - the Lankreise about the effects of Central Government policy and about planned measures at federal level. In addition to this, it organizes the exchange of experiences amongst the Landkreise and influences opinion-forming in the local government field.

In order to accomplish its tasks to promote public understanding of the functions and institutions of the Landkreise, the Deutscher Landkreistag makes use of its own monthly periodical entitled " Der Landkreis". It participates in different scientific publications, especially in the field of local government law, and maintains contact with the public relations media, the press, radio and television.

The organs of the Deutscher Landkreistag are the Landkreis assembly (Landkreisversammlung) which convenes every five years, the Main Committee (Hauptausschuss) and the Presiding Board (Präsidium). The Main Committee is made up of delegates nominated by the Land-level Landkreis Associations. It lays down the outlines of the association policy. The Presiding Board is the management organ. It consists of the 13 chairmen of the Land-level Landkreis Associations, an additional representative of the Bavarian Lankreistag, a representative of the extraordinary members and the Chief Executive Secretary. Final decisions on all matters relevant to local government policy are made - generally following preliminary discussion by the specialist committees - by the association's Presiding Board.

At the level of the Deutscher Landkreistag seven specialist committees are established: Constitution and Europe Committee, Finance Committee, Culture Committee, Environment and Planning Committee, Economic and Traffic Committee, Social committee and Health Committee.

As the cities, Landkreise and municipalities have to be prepared for the consequences of the European legislation and decrees in a merging Europe, the Deutscher Landkreistag has set up its own office in Brussels.