Local cultural sovereignty
The municipal cultural sovereignty is in the Federal Republic of Germany by municipal authorities exercised and is part of the local self-government .
Content
In their area, municipalities are the exclusive and autonomous public administration bodies . Their self-administration tasks (voluntary or compulsory tasks) and matters also include cultural work (e.g. development, planning, organization, deployment of personnel, financial resources). They have the free (sovereign) decision on whether and how they carry out these tasks. By the federal states, the tasks are anchored in the respective state constitutions, which also exercise legal supervision . The cultural tasks of the municipalities include, within the framework of the municipal task structure, for example school boards , kindergartens and daycare centers , music and adult education centers , sports facilities , libraries , museums and theaters . As a rule, the municipalities carry out the technical supervision of these tasks independently (sovereignly). They plan and manage their housekeeping in such a way that the continuous fulfillment of the tasks within the scope of the responsibilities is ensured.
economics
Most cultural public institutions of local authorities can by their - often socially designed - fees do not cover costs self-financing and therefore as a grant farms to balance the budget from the municipal budget dependent.
Due to the negative development of municipal budgets, there is a tendency for fewer and fewer budget funds to be available for spending on voluntary, cultural tasks . Together with the federal states and the federal government, the municipalities endeavor to secure adequate financial resources for their cultural areas. The right to a basic cultural provision of the citizens is an essential requirement of the municipality. As a consequence of the municipalities that are partially incapable of acting under budgetary law, the development of cultural priorities and development plans resulted. Sustainable concepts should avoid further cuts in the cultural sector.
Possible concepts are:
- Further networking of the services with other institutions at the municipal, state or federal level;
- Merging of services;
- Private cultural funding (by private individuals or from the private sector ) also through public-private partnerships ;
- Funding from EU funds;
- Administrative modernization (reorganization of administrative structures);
- To anchor culture as a national goal in the state constitutions.
The introduction of the concepts can have positive and negative effects on the municipalities:
- Influence on cultural sovereignty by non-communal institutions and people,
- Loss of importance of the municipality,
- Changes in the economic policy framework of the municipalities.
literature
- Günther Püttner (Hrsg.): Handbook of municipal science and practice . Berlin u. a. Springer, 2007. Vol. 1 Basics and municipal constitution ISBN 978-3-540-23793-8