Erfurt (dpa/th) - The next round of municipal mergers in Thuringia will start. There are 14 applications from cities and municipalities, said Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) on Tuesday in Erfurt. The minister justified the comparatively small number primarily with the problems during the corona pandemic - they would have made the necessary preparatory work by the municipalities for integration and mergers more difficult.
The 14 applications were included in a municipal reorganization law that the cabinet had passed and which is now going to the state parliament. Among other things, the merger candidates received EUR 9.4 million in restructuring bonuses. The new structure is to be implemented by January 1, 2023 - among other things by integration into the small town of Dingelstädt in the Eichsfeld district or Mühlhausen in the Unstrut-Hainich district.
According to the Minister of the Interior, the number of district municipalities in Thuringia has decreased from 843 to 626 since 2018 as a result of incorporations and mergers. Despite the declining population in the Free State, efficient municipal structures are to be preserved, said Maier. A major regional reform with the redesign of the currently 17 districts had failed in Thuringia.
