Commentary
Strengthen the municipalities!
Fewer and fewer people in Vorarlberg are prepared to take on responsibility at municipal level. This should also be an alarm signal for top politicians in the state and federal government. A commentary by "Krone Vorarlberg" editor-in-chief Emanuel Walser.
129 candidates took part in the direct mayoral election in Vorarlberg on election Sunday - compared to 142 in 2020. A total of 198 lists competed in the municipal council elections - compared to 220 five years ago.
This means that a trend that has been ongoing for some time has become even more entrenched: it is becoming increasingly difficult to inspire citizens to run for office at municipal level. The reasons for this are obvious: the social structure has changed, the demands of the office of mayor are absurdly high, especially in small municipalities, and the financial compensation is disproportionate to the effort involved. And the most important point: the scope for action has become smaller. The surplus in the operational management of all Vorarlberg municipalities has fallen from around 16 percent in 2022 to around four percent. In plain language, this means that many municipalities in the region can barely cover their day-to-day operations, some not even that. There is hardly any scope for investment.
The consequences of this development could prove fatal: Because if you take away people's ability to shape their immediate living environment, you disempower them - and without responsible citizens, democracy dies.
This also results in a clear call to action for those responsible at federal and state level: strengthen the municipalities!
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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