German cities' financial meltdown

Mayor warns democracy under threat if state cannot function

- by REMIX NEWS

GERMANY’S cities are on the verge of a massive financial crisis, with the mayor of Essen warning that the data shows that almost every single city in the country is nearly bankrupt.

Currently, the total deficit for all German cities in 2025 is €30 billion, which jumped from last year’s deficit of €24 billion.

Essen’s Mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU), who is also a member of the CDU federal executive board, is sounding the alarm: “Almost every German city is now on the verge of bankruptcy.”

In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, only 10 out of 396 cities and municipalities can present a balanced budget, and these alarming figures from Germany's largest federal state can be applied to the entire country, he said.

Mayor Kufen stressed that the crisis is universal, affecting municipalities regardless of their location: “What’s new is that all cities have their backs against the wall,” he told Bild newspaper.

He warned that “budget freezes would now have to be imposed everywhere,” including in many cities previously considered wealthy.

Kufen emphasised the need for a national discussion on affordability: “We have to talk about what we can do so that our welfare state itself does not become a social case. This means: what do we want to afford and what else can we afford?”

However, he noted that cities cannot make these crucial decisions themselves; only the federal government can.

Kufen illustrated the crisis with figures from his own city, Essen, which has a population of nearly 600,000. The city had planned a balanced budget for 2025. “But instead of a slight increase of €1.7m, we currently have a deficit of €123m,” he calculated.