Communal economy (municipality)

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In Germany, the term municipal economy refers to the entirety of the economic activities of a local authority ( municipality , city , district ). The communal economy is part of the communal self-administration standardized in Art. 28 Para. 2 of the Basic Law (GG) and guarantees essential parts of the general interest of a commune.

Objective and object of communal services

The aim of the communal economy is the provision of services and / or the production of products for general interest as an original economic activity. The main objects of municipal economic activity are the supply of energy , the supply of drinking water , the disposal of sewage and garbage , the recycling of residual materials , the provision of public transport services , the provision of health services , the provision and / or management of housing and public used areas and real estate, the provision of basic financial services ( savings banks ) and the provision of basic communication services . This also includes the operation of cemeteries and crematoria .

Other parts of services of general interest, above all education, culture and social affairs, are not the direct subject of municipal economic activity, but are increasingly being provided within municipal economic structures. Additional services, such as B. Data processing, gardening and landscaping and business development are not part of the general interest. For the assignment of areas of activity, European law is primarily decisive. According to this, only companies that pursue economic interests fall under the category of "public" or "municipal companies". If publicly owned companies exclusively pursue non-economic interests, such as in the cultural sector of theaters , museums and orchestras, or if they are active in the exercise of sovereign authority, they do not fall under the term “public companies” and are therefore not part of the municipal economy.

Structures and framework of the municipal economy

Since the local authorities are part of the federal states as part of the administrative structure of the Federal Republic of Germany, essential aspects of economic activity (local authority law) are standardized in the local constitutions ( municipal regulations ). The economic activity should be in an appropriate relationship to the actual requirements of the provision of a service (demand) and should take into account the financial situation of the respective regional authority. In some segments, the communal economic activity, which is operated competitively and usually also profitably (e.g. energy, housing, hospitals, transport) collides with private economic activities, in others there is a natural oligopoly (water supply).

The structures of the municipal economy are operated by the municipalities within the framework of their organizational sovereignty, which is, however, subject to considerable legal restrictions in some cases. The economic activity of the municipalities takes place on the one hand in public law structures. Examples are:

On the other hand, the activity takes place in structures under private law . Examples are:

Companies under private law that are wholly or mostly privately owned can carry out the tasks on behalf of the municipalities via contractual channels (standardized responsibility for municipal duties or tasks delegated by the state).

The strategic orientation, management and control of the communal economic structures is carried out by the democratically legitimized committees of the municipalities and districts and the democratically elected officials ( mayors , mayors , district administrators ). The administrations of the municipalities and districts have appropriate organizational structures for operational management and control . Even when municipalities outsource certain services in public-private partnerships, they always bear ultimate responsibility.

Local government and European Union

The legal, structural and institutional framework conditions for local self-government tend to differ rather than fundamentally in the individual EU countries. In most EU countries, local self-government has a status comparable to that of Germany; in Scandinavia and Denmark, the municipalities and therefore also their local economy are even more important than their German counterparts. What all states have in common is that services of general interest are increasingly exposed to market pressure. The European concept for public services knows “services of general economic interest”. Only with these is it permitted to a limited extent to introduce special regulations contrary to competition law. Although the boundary between economic and non-economic services in the Lisbon Treaty remains blurred, it has become clear that even liberalized public services cannot be provided in a pure market regime, but always offer starting points for state regulation.

Critically, also in terms of EU state aid law , the possibility is repeatedly seen that municipal companies would enjoy competitive advantages. For example, the financial equalization between different municipal companies in the cross-tax association (e.g. municipal utilities ) is constantly being scrutinized. When it comes to comparing efficiency between private and municipal companies, contrary to popular belief, there are no fundamental differences.

See also

literature

  • Michael Schäfer: Communal Economy - A Sociopolitical and Economic Analysis . Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden 2014. ISBN 978-3-658-05838-8 . Limited preview on google.books.de . Retrieved September 1, 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Schäfer, p. 19.
  2. ↑ a b Schäfer, p. 18.
  3. ↑ Municipal services in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon online. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  4. ↑ Tax cross-linking again on the test bench - oral hearing at the BFH on November 13, 2013 | The energy blog. In: www.derenergieblog.de. Retrieved June 21, 2016 .
  5. ↑ No differences in efficiency. In: ZfK.de. Retrieved September 5, 2018 .