City-state privilege

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In Germany, the city-state privilege denotes the improved position of the city-states Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg in the state financial equalization system .

The privilege lies in the fact that when calculating the equalization indicators of the federal states, the population of the city states is multiplied by a factor of 1.35. They are therefore weighted more heavily, as a result of which the city-states receive higher compensation payments compared to their number of inhabitants than the area states .

The number determined by multiplying the actual number of inhabitants by the factor is also referred to as the “ refined number of inhabitants ”. For example, the actual population of Berlin of 3,431,681 (as of June 30, 2009) after multiplying by 1.35 results in a “refined population” of 4,632,769.

The legal basis of the city-state privilege is Section 9 (2) FAG , which states:

"When determining the measurement figures for balancing the income of the states according to § 7, the population of the states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are rated at 135 percent and the population of the other states at 100 percent."

The city-state privilege is politically justified by the fact that, for structural reasons, large cities have higher public costs per inhabitant than the average of all municipalities. In the case of territorial states, large cities are better placed in the respective municipal financial equalization system internally, which is not possible for the city states due to a lack of surrounding municipalities. The regulation, as well as the assumption on which it is based, is controversial and has been criticized in particular by the large states among the donor countries.

In the municipal financial equalization scheme, however, the territorial states grant their larger cities, as regional and medium-sized centers, considerable financial equalization through key allocations for their additional needs for the maintenance of central tasks (theater, culture, education) and social burdens.

The loss of the city-state privilege is one of the disadvantages that the city-states would have to fear in the recently often discussed merger with large-scale states (example: Berlin-Brandenburg ).