W. David Samuelsen schrieb: > what? Whose idea is this? Saarland is unique unto itself. > > David Samuelsen > > Ernst Mettlach wrote: > >> PS: This story is not at an end. Actually, there are discussions to >> merge Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland into one federal state. >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRIER-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > David, this was not a joke. There is a commitee in Berlin (Foederalismusreform) that made the proposals to reduce the number of german federal states from now 16 to 9 or 10. There were commitees earlier in the 1950s (Luther-Ausschuss) and 70s (Ernst-Kommitee) who recommended a merger. Experts say, that a federal state needs to have at least 5 Million inhabitants. As Rheinland-Pfalz has 4 Mio citizens and Saarland less than 1,1 Mio, our States would be hot candidates for a merger. Some experts say, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland have to merge. The idea of merging federal states is as old as the German federal republic. The reason is simple: Money. It is more expensive per capita to pay a government and a parliament for 1 Mio people than for 5 Mio people. Many german federal states only survive, because the richer states pay huge sums for them. This system is called Laenderfinanzausgleich. The rich countries (Bavaria and Baden-Wuertemberg e.g) pay the poor (Saarland, Bremen, the eastern states) receive money. Some people say that is solidarity, some people think this is unjust. The german federal constitution (Grundgesetz) allows a restructuring. Article 29 says that the federal states could be restructured to ensure that the federal states are big and strong enough to fulfill their tasks . But it also says, that cultural and historical ties have to be respected. A restructuring has to be done by law of the federal government Germany and to be affirmed by the people living in the federal states with a plebiscite. There was an attempt to merger the states Berlin and Brandenburg in 1996 but the people said "No". The last merger of states was in 1952, when Baden and Wuertemberg came together and are now Baden-Wuertemberg. In 2003, the head of Rhineland-Palatinate, Kurt Beck, made the proposals to merge Rlp and Saarland. But the Saarländer refused to do so. As people in the Trier and Saarland are known to be bullheaded and somtimes behave like a bad tempered old mule and as they are, as a result of history, suspicious of any paternalism by governments, I don`t think the merger will take place in the next 50 years. Maybe it will hapen sooner when the government of the Saarland runs out of money. If you´re interested in more details, look at this page in german Wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neugliederung_des_Bundesgebietes Regards, Ernst

Ernst is right. This is a topic as old I care to remember. I am not so sure about his predictions that we won't see a merger in the next 50 years. I am sure we will have to vote about it within the next decade, and it will be a seriously hot contest, where I would not want to predict the outcome. Would be similar to the 1955 vote. Personally, I buy into some of arguments for merger, but it would never ever get my vote. -----Original Message----- From: trier-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:trier-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ernst Mettlach Sent: 19 December 2006 10:49 To: trier-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [TRIER-ROOTS] Saarland merger? W. David Samuelsen schrieb: > what? Whose idea is this? Saarland is unique unto itself. > > David Samuelsen > > Ernst Mettlach wrote: > >> PS: This story is not at an end. Actually, there are discussions to >> merge Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland into one federal state. >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRIER-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > David, this was not a joke. There is a commitee in Berlin (Foederalismusreform) that made the proposals to reduce the number of german federal states from now 16 to 9 or 10. There were commitees earlier in the 1950s (Luther-Ausschuss) and 70s (Ernst-Kommitee) who recommended a merger. Experts say, that a federal state needs to have at least 5 Million inhabitants. As Rheinland-Pfalz has 4 Mio citizens and Saarland less than 1,1 Mio, our States would be hot candidates for a merger. Some experts say, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland have to merge. The idea of merging federal states is as old as the German federal republic. The reason is simple: Money. It is more expensive per capita to pay a government and a parliament for 1 Mio people than for 5 Mio people. Many german federal states only survive, because the richer states pay huge sums for them. This system is called Laenderfinanzausgleich. The rich countries (Bavaria and Baden-Wuertemberg e.g) pay the poor (Saarland, Bremen, the eastern states) receive money. Some people say that is solidarity, some people think this is unjust. The german federal constitution (Grundgesetz) allows a restructuring. Article 29 says that the federal states could be restructured to ensure that the federal states are big and strong enough to fulfill their tasks . But it also says, that cultural and historical ties have to be respected. A restructuring has to be done by law of the federal government Germany and to be affirmed by the people living in the federal states with a plebiscite. There was an attempt to merger the states Berlin and Brandenburg in 1996 but the people said "No". The last merger of states was in 1952, when Baden and Wuertemberg came together and are now Baden-Wuertemberg. In 2003, the head of Rhineland-Palatinate, Kurt Beck, made the proposals to merge Rlp and Saarland. But the Saarländer refused to do so. As people in the Trier and Saarland are known to be bullheaded and somtimes behave like a bad tempered old mule and as they are, as a result of history, suspicious of any paternalism by governments, I don`t think the merger will take place in the next 50 years. Maybe it will hapen sooner when the government of the Saarland runs out of money. If you´re interested in more details, look at this page in german Wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neugliederung_des_Bundesgebietes Regards, Ernst ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRIER-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message