The Minister Presidents of the federal states are meeting in Leipzig from tonight until Friday for their annual conference. The consultations begin on Thursday. The focus of the three-day meeting will be talks on reforms to public broadcasting, migration and the strained financial situation of local authorities. The heads of government will also meet with the state commissioners for the disabled and representatives of inclusion associations in Leipzig.
Saxony took over the chairmanship of the Minister Presidents' Conference (MPK) on October 1. The Minister President of the Free State, Michael Kretschmer (CDU), continues to push for a stricter asylum policy. The number of 170,000 asylum applications made in Germany by the end of September is simply too high. Saxony is calling for, among other things, refoulement at the borders, better protection of the EU's external borders and the implementation of asylum procedures in non-EU countries.
Agreement on the broadcasting fee open
One sensitive issue is the deliberations on public broadcasting. This is about reforms in the institutions - and about the money of broadcasters such as ARD and ZDF from next year. The commission responsible for determining the financial requirements of the broadcasters (KEF) has recommended an increase in the broadcasting contribution of 58 cents to 18.94 euros per month from January. The federal states must unanimously approve the increase. However, there is resistance to the increase, for example from Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt.
The campaign organization Campact has announced a protest outside the Kongresshalle am Zoo, where the heads of the federal states are meeting, on Friday. It opposes the planned cuts to public service programs and the possible closure of TV and radio stations.
The Minister Presidents' Conference is a committee of the 16 federal states. The aim of the meetings is to agree on joint positions of the federal states, which are then represented to the federal government.
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