Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – The federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia want to look together for ways to relieve NRW municipalities of their old debts. At a meeting between North Rhine-Westphalian municipal minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU) and state finance minister Marcus Optendrenk (CDU) with federal finance minister Christian Lindner (FDP), it was agreed that a working group would be set up to “deal more intensively with possible options for action,” a spokesman reported of the local ministry on Friday in Düsseldorf.
In its coalition agreement, the black-green state government in Düsseldorf attached great importance to solving the old debt problem. The aim is to agree on a solution for North Rhine-Westphalia with the federal government this year, it said. And further: “Should the federal government not fulfill its responsibility, we are committed to finding a solution ourselves in the coming year and setting up an old debt fund that will bring substantial and balance sheet relief for the participating municipalities.”
