Ahead of the Conference of Minister Presidents scheduled for next Thursday, city leaders have once again reaffirmed in a letter to Chancellor Merz that the federal and state governments must now follow their clear recognition of the problem with clear decisions in order to resolve the widespread, major financial problems facing local governments.

The letter reads as follows: “Dear Chancellor,

At the press conference on the results of the last federal-state talks on December 4, 2025, you commented on the financial situation of local governments as well as on the concerns of the 13 state capitals of the non-city states. You announced a special conference of state premiers on this topic in the first quarter of 2026 and stated at the same time, ‘that we will now move forward with proposals together with the federal government, the states, and the municipalities, but that we must also develop these proposals jointly.’

In a united front, we—the mayors of the 13 state capitals of the larger states—have urgently called on the federal government and the states to jointly assume responsibility and provide municipalities with the necessary financial leeway, both in the short term and structurally.

We welcome the findings of the Commission on the Welfare State as well as the exemplary discussion of specific social welfare laws recently initiated by the Federal Chancellery. However, even under the most favorable circumstances, both initiatives will only lead to relief in the medium term—and even then, the scale of that relief is insufficient to resolve the current widespread and severe financial problems. There is a risk that local investments will be neglected. At the same time, new liquidity loans and their interest payments will place a burden on future generations.

Meanwhile, the financial situation of local governments has not improved but has instead worsened further. At their meeting on January 22, 2026, in Dresden, the Executive Board and Main Committee of the German Association of Cities—in which we, the state capitals, are also organized—once again made it clear just how dangerous this downward spiral is for Germany and our social cohesion as a whole.

“Our social cohesion depends crucially on the leeway cities still have to shape their communities locally,” state the “Dresden Impulses” adopted on January 22, 2026.

Therefore, from the perspective of the German Association of Cities and from our perspective as mayors, concrete and timely decisions are urgently needed to relieve the burden on cities so that they can fulfill their constitutional duties within the framework of local self-government.

The mayors of the 13 state capitals of the non-city states and their umbrella organization remain ready to participate constructively in the upcoming reforms and to make their contribution. However, we expect that this clear recognition of the problems will now be followed by clear decisions from the federal and state governments.

We therefore urge you to promptly engage in an in-depth dialogue with all state capitals of the non-city states and the German Association of Cities, and to schedule a meeting with us in Berlin at short notice.”