Action program Ruhr

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The Ruhr Action Program was a structural policy program of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia ( Cabinet Rau I ) for the Ruhr area .

history

Johannes Rau , 1978
Horst Ludwig Riemer , 1978

Acute structural problems in the Ruhr area prompted the state government led by Prime Minister Johannes Rau ( SPD ) and Economics Minister Horst Ludwig Riemer ( FDP ), after a "Ruhr Conference" on May 8 and 9, 1979 in Castrop-Rauxel in September 1979, the Ruhr Action Program as limited special aid for the Ruhr area from state and federal funds to those involved in the “Ruhr Conference” and to the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia .

While the Ruhr area's dependence on the coal and steel industry continued - 37 percent of the workers in the area were still employed in this heavily subsidized sector at the end of the 1970s - the oil price crisis occurred in 1973/1974 , which from 1975 onwards hit the steel industry in the Ruhr area particularly hard as a steel slump penetrated. As a result, economic growth in the Ruhr area weakened, so that unemployment there rose to a depressing level to a level above the state and national average. In addition to the particularly high number of job seekers from “problem groups that are difficult to place” in the district, there was the high number of job seekers from the group of those entering the labor market, especially from the “ baby boom years ”. It was also clear to the initiators of the program that the Ruhr area, as a region characterized by old industry, did not match the quality of living and living of other economic centers in the Federal Republic.

Like earlier structural policy interventions in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ruhr Development Program (1968) and the North Rhine-Westphalia Program (1970), the Ruhr Action Program had the character of a comprehensive modernization program developed and implemented by the state government. In contrast, new approaches to North Rhine-Westphalian structural policy were the later introduction of the "regionalized structural policy", the international building exhibition Emscher Park , the so-called "start-up offensive" and attempts to strengthen regional production networks (" clusters ") within the framework of "industry initiatives" In the context of the different phases of North Rhine-Westphalian structural policy, the Ruhr Action Program is described as a "phase of neo-industrialization", in which the state government saw the future of the Ruhr area not in overcoming the mining industrial monostructure through diversification , but in its continuation through an attempt at Modernization.

As the first attempt at regional integration of different policy fields, the Ruhr Action Program was the most advanced regional political initiative up to that point in Germany and the largest regional funding program in the old Federal Republic. Up until 1993, scientific evaluations showed that the program had remained "relatively ineffective":

“Overall, the action program represented a forward-looking political concept, but the limited feasibility of the integrated regional policy approach was clearly highlighted in the course of the evaluation (...). The decisive factors for this were, on the one hand, barriers to change within the Ruhr area, such as the fragmented planning skills, the one-sided company structure, a lack of commercial space and local competition. A second basic conceptual problem, the contradiction between the broad approach of the measures and the necessary concentration of funds, made the implementation of the program more difficult (...). In addition, its effects were overshadowed by the onset of the global economic crisis, and so could not develop the hoped-for effects. Finally, the financial limits of the integrated approach also became clear during implementation. The high costs of the program signaled an absolute control limit in view of the increasing financial leeway of the state. The program did not succeed in realigning the economic structure overall. Neither could a breakthrough in the labor market be achieved; the regionally concentrated labor market problems remained undiminished. "

During the deliberations of the 8th State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia on the 1980 budget in October 1979, the Ruhr Action Program was an issue because of the necessary borrowing. The budget planned - not least because of the loans to be taken out as a result of the Ruhr Action Program - a net new debt of DM 7.6 billion and an increase in the budget volume of 5.4 percent. The member of parliament Theodor Schwefer ( CDU ) criticized the structural and economic policy of the social-liberal state government in the budget consultations : The funding for power plant renovations in the Ruhr Action Program is not based on mature plans, the idea of ​​the property fund emerging in this program is from the Ruhr Action Program of the CDU parliamentary group " quite simply copied ”and the conference in Castrop-Rauxel“ turned out to be a comedy on closer inspection. ”Regarding the economic and social structure of the country, he said:“ Practice shows very clearly that heavy industry and large companies [ in the Ruhr area] apparently have a less favorable influence on the labor market than the markedly medium-sized industry in other parts of the country. ”So that the large companies would not become larger and more powerful at the expense of the economic and social structure, he called for an improvement in state aid for medium-sized businesses.

Goals and measures

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia formulated the following topics as overarching goals and areas of action in the Ruhr Action Program:

  • “Combating unemployment and improving education and training
  • Forward-looking technologies and innovations
  • Urban renewal, improvement of the living environment, promotion of sports
  • Environmental protection for a modern industrial area
  • The Ruhr area must remain the energy center of the Federal Republic
  • Strengthening the investment power
  • Cultural life in the Ruhr area "

The state government named the following fields of action to specify:

  • Measures of professional qualification, establishment of advisory and support services in " socially disadvantaged areas " via job creation measures and wage subsidies
  • Creation of temporary jobs with educational opportunities
  • Establishment of centers for the hard-to-place unemployed
  • Expansion of secondary schools to all-day schools
  • Establishment of regional school advice centers and three career information centers
  • Expansion of the vocational school system
  • Establishment of a special training center for young people in Herne
  • Establishment of regional jobs for foreign children and young people
  • Establishment of an institute for workers' education in Recklinghausen
  • Establishment of a central vocational school for state subject classes in Gelsenkirchen
  • Establishment of a judicial training center in Recklinghausen
  • Establishment of a central hospital for the penal system in Bochum and other judicial facilities in Hamm-Heessen and Duisburg
  • Supplementation of the technology programs of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with a part “Coal and Steel” to promote technical developments in the iron and steel industry in the amount of 250 million DM
  • Foundation of a research center for heavy oil production in Gelsenkirchen
  • Development of a suspension railway project at the University of Dortmund
  • Formation of a joint funding focus on micro and measurement electronics in Dortmund and Duisburg
  • Settlement of further research institutes in the Ruhr area
  • Funding of further research projects in the Ruhr area
  • Promotion of international university partnerships
  • Creation of advice centers as part of the pilot project "Innovation Promotion and Technology Transfer Center of Universities in the Ruhr Area"
  • Establishment of a state institute for Arabic, Chinese and Japanese languages with headquarters in Bochum
  • Establishment of a federal center for the humanization of working life based in Bochum
  • Establishment of a "German permanent occupational safety exhibition"
  • Establishment of a real estate fund "Ruhr" in the amount of 500 million DM for the activation of land , in particular of traffic, colliery and industrial wastelands, which are suitable for contributing to the improvement of the living environment, directing investments in the Ruhr area as well as the " urban sprawl of the Ruhr area peripheral communities" and the " To counteract bleeding of the agglomeration
  • Promotion of the commercial economy with safeguards against mining effects and for the financing of mining damage
  • Establishment of an apartment renovation program
  • Establishment of a program to improve the living environment, especially in city and district centers as well as workers' settlements, to create green spaces and recreational facilities, to relocate disruptive businesses, to set up pedestrian areas and to build multi-storey car parks and underground garages
  • Promotion of traffic calming measures
  • Funding of the "Sport in the Ruhr Area" project to identify and test sports promotion measures with regard to "the lack of sporting activity among the population"
  • Construction and expansion of sports facilities to "raise the basic sports facility supply" to the state level
  • Construction of sports facilities for competitive sports
  • Expansion of stadiums in Bottrop, Duisburg-Wedau, Herne, Oberhausen and Recklinghausen
  • Extension of the tax depreciation of environmental protection projects (§ 7 d EStG)
  • Promotion of secondary dedusting systems in smelting and steel works
  • Promotion of desulphurisation plants
  • Promotion of environmental improvements in coking plants and plants in the chemical industry
  • Establishment of noise reduction plans and provision of appropriate funding
  • Implementation of measures for the conservation and development of the landscape as landscape conservation pilot projects
  • Purchase and rehabilitation of forest areas
  • Desludging of water surfaces
  • Funding of a pilot project for the use of waste heat for greenhouse horticulture and fish farming
  • Financing of a power plant renovation program 1980–1985 in the amount of 660 million DM
  • Construction of the Voerde coal-fired power station
  • Expansion of the district heating supply in the amount of 300 million DM
  • Update of the “Energy Technology Program” with funds amounting to 289.9 million DM (coal mining measures, mine safety and health protection for miners, further development of a high-temperature reactor, the use of nuclear process heat, coal refining processes and the rational use of Energy and energy resources)
  • Funding research into the environmentally friendly use of coal
  • Financing of state measures for regional economic development in the amount of 330 million DM
  • Expansion of the sewer network
  • Increase in the state's non-property-related investment lump sum to the municipalities while changing the distribution mode (half distribution depending on the number of inhabitants and the structural component “unemployment”) in order to provide additional support to the Ruhr area municipalities
  • State grant for the establishment of a permanent ensemble for the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen
  • Promotion of children's and youth theaters
  • Funding of the Adolf Grimme Institute in Marl
  • Promotion of school libraries
  • Promotion of museums and exhibitions
  • Promotion of the repair measures on architectural monuments

Time and budget

The Ruhr Action Program was planned for the period 1980 to 1984. However, the first measures had already started in 1979. The total volume was special aid from the state and the federal government in the amount of around 6.9 billion DM. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was to finance 77.4 percent of this volume from tax revenues and borrowing.

literature

  • State government of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ed.): Politics for the Ruhr area. The action program . Düsseldorf, September 1979 ( PDF in the portal lwl.org , Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe)
  • Municipal Association of the Ruhr Area : Guidelines for the Ruhr Action Program . Essen 1980
  • Michael Krummacher: Ruhr area crisis - economic structural causes and the “Ruhr Action Program” of the state government . In: Hermann Brümmer, Tilo Stoffregen, Dieter Weichert: Ruhr area - crisis as a concept. Investigations into the situation and future of an industrial environment . Germinal Verlagsgesellschaft, Bochum 1982, ISBN 3-88663-107-9 , pp. 76-115

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Markus Wissen: Structural policy intervention and unequal development. On the role of the state in structural change . In: geographical review , volume 3 (2001), issue 1 ( Ruhr area ), p. 3 ( PDF )
  2. ↑ Tim Pixa: Realignment of structural policy. Participation and protection of employee interests in North Rhine-Westphalia . Dissertation Ruhr University Bochum 2010, Gabler Verlag / Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-8349-2907-5 , p. 71
  3. ↑ Erich Latniak: Technology design and regional projects: an evaluation from a control theory perspective . Dissertation Fernuniversität Hagen 1993, Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 978-3-8244-4199-0 , p. 99 ff.
  4. ↑ Landtag internal , 10th year, edition of October 29, 1979, pp. 3–4, 7 ( online )
  5. ↑ § 7 d Income Tax Act ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website in the portal gesetze.com.de , accessed on September 1, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gesetze.com.de