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Erfurt (dpa / th) - Municipalities that want to merge can, under certain conditions, expect a premium of 200 euros per inhabitant from the state.
The Left, SPD, Greens and the CDU passed a corresponding law on Thursday in the Thuringian state parliament.
Each participating municipality can receive a maximum of two million euros from the state.
In addition, the law provides for debt relief for financially weak communities.
The prerequisite for this is that the community concerned has a per capita debt that is more than twice as high as the national average.
According to the law, this average debt was around 460 euros per inhabitant at the end of 2019.
Structural support is intended to provide financial support to communities with deficits in their budgets.
The AfD parliamentary group voted against the law, the FDP parliamentary group abstained.
The parliamentary groups of the Left, SPD and Greens expect a maximum funding requirement of around 107 million euros in the years 2021 to 2024.
There were already around 300 voluntary community associations in the last electoral term.
The number of Thuringian communities has thus decreased from 843 in 2017 to 628 at the end of 2019.
The state paid around 180 million euros in funding for this.
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"This is money well spent," said SPD MP Janine Merz.
Investments have been made in daycare centers, sidewalks or swimming pools.
Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) said the assistance was essential to encourage communities to join forces.
"Unfortunately, it is the case that many municipalities in Thuringia carry mountains of debt with them," said Maier.
The FDP MP Dirk Bergner called the bonuses "a kind of bribe".
This is better used to adequately finance the municipalities.
Bergner expressed doubts as to whether the mergers would actually lead to improvements.
"There is no evidence of any efficiency at this point, not to this day."
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The AfD parliamentary group warned of the high costs.
The question arises to what extent the Free State is able to bear the costs, said AfD MP Robert Stuhlmann.
"Financing of additional costs has not yet been secured," he said.
The future will show whether the chosen path will be the right one.
The left-wing MP Sascha Bilay, on the other hand, made it clear that, in his opinion, districts now also need to be addressed so that they think about mergers.
The CDU domestic politician Raymond Walk emphasized that the new law creates planning security for municipalities.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210506-99-489234 / 2