Leftists criticize concept of moving from the city to the countryside

The Left Party in the Saxon state parliament sees good living conditions in the countryside as the only motivation for people to move from the city to the province. MP Juliane Nagel was responding to plans by Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD). Geywitz wants to encourage people to move to the surrounding countryside or smaller towns due to the housing shortage in large cities. "But people can't be moved around like tokens on a map. They move to where they have the best chance of a good life," explained Nagel.

"The Federal Building Minister is distracting from her shared responsibility for the fact that only people with deep pockets can freely decide where they want to live. And Saxony's Construction Minister Thomas Schmidt (CDU) is once again expecting more commitment from the federal level. This is not without a certain comedy after the CDU has failed to make life in the countryside more attractive in almost three and a half decades in power," emphasized the Left Party MP.

Federal and state governments must make life in the countryside more attractive

According to Nagel, the federal government and the state of Saxony could use many means to ensure that more people find their way to smaller or medium-sized towns. "This is possible with daycare close to home, enough school places and job opportunities, good transport connections and social infrastructure - from doctors' surgeries and hospitals to shopping facilities and culture."

Without fast network access, all hopes of working from home are in vain. All of this can be subsidized by the state. However, the coalition led by CDU Minister President Michael Kretschmer has not really made any progress. At the same time, social housing construction in the cities is stagnating, while rents and land prices are rising in the suburbs.

Geywitz announced at the weekend that he would present a strategy to combat vacancies by the end of the year. "There is great potential in small and medium-sized cities in particular, because they also have daycare centers, schools, shopping facilities and doctors," the SPD politician told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". There are almost two million empty apartments in Germany. Working from home and digitalization would now bring completely new opportunities for living and working in rural areas.