Economic Policy – Munich – Greens: State government ignores rural areas – Bavaria

Munich (dpa / lby) – The rural sector in Bavaria is still clearly at a disadvantage when it comes to company settlements compared to metropolitan areas. This emerges from the response of the state government to the request of the Green Parliamentary Group. According to it, last year every fifth project of the State Settlement Agency “Invest in Bavaria” was in the so-called “general rural area”. In contrast, more than three quarters of companies settled on conventions.

Green parliamentary group leader Ludwig Hartmann and his group colleague Christian Zwanziger accused the state government of neglecting structurally vulnerable areas. “The Söder government is increasing pressure on the Munich metropolitan area and neglecting rural areas, based on the motto “Whoever has, will be given,” said Hartmann of the German Press Agency in Munich. “The Munich metropolitan area is boiling – plus, other places in northern or eastern Bavaria are suffering from the fact that industries are no longer available.” Zwanziger criticized: “The state government is eschewing its responsibility to ensure equal living and working conditions.”

According to state government data, “Invest in Bavaria” last year managed 17 projects in “normal rural areas”, 4 projects in “rural areas with an integration approach”, but on the other hand 67 projects in so-called grand alliance areas.

However, the imbalance was not as pronounced as in previous years: between 2017 and 2019, only a maximum of ten percent of settlements were in rural areas.

If you look at the newly created jobs, the picture also looks a little better: in 2020 about 40 percent of the jobs created by new settlements with the help of “Invest in Bavaria” were in rural areas.

In terms of numbers, the Upper Bavaria administrative district has always been clearly ahead: 73 percent of supported trade settlements in the whole of Bavaria and about 38 percent of the newly created jobs were in Upper Bavaria last year, with the remainder in all other administrative districts combined. However, the imbalance was already somewhat weaker than in previous years.

Even if there is a slightly less bias towards Upper Bavaria, the general trend continues, criticizing Hartmann: “Upper Bavaria, especially the Munich metropolitan area, has been warming for a long time and is still Bavaria. Supported by three quarters of all commercial settlements in “Investing in Bavaria” 2019 and 2020. The state government ignores the heavy follow-up costs of its “failed location policy”: labor shortages, housing shortages, hypothetical prices for rent and home ownership, extreme pressure on areas at the expense of forests, grasslands and farms, Hartman said.

In response to the request of the Greens, the state government emphasizes, among other things, that the services of “Invest in Bavaria” are “only one aspect of supporting the Bavarian regions”. Further measures, such as broadband expansion, regional funding and a regionally balanced research, technology and innovation policy “also contribute to the economic success of the regions”.

On Thursday itself, Finance Minister Albert Feurecker (CSU) announced that he wanted to attract more companies to rural areas in parallel with the new transfer of officers. International companies should also consider building second locations and offices in another region. It’s kind of an invitation.

The state government counts about 90 percent of Bavaria’s area as rural areas – and about 56 percent of the population lives there.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210711-99-337309 / 4