Status: 12/12/2022 9:53 a.m
Because of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, the federal states are demanding compulsory insurance against natural hazards on buildings. The federal government has now rejected the plans for the time being.
The compulsory insurance against natural hazards for buildings desired by the federal states will not be implemented by the federal government for the time being. “At a time of extreme financial burdens on private households, we should keep our hands off everything that makes living in Germany even more expensive,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann to the “Handelsblatt”. Such a duty would be constitutionally “probably possible,” said the FDP politician, but added: “I think it’s politically wrong.”
Federal states can take action themselves
There was a vote within the federal government on this, said Buschmann. However, the federal states could take action themselves: “Should the federal states want compulsory insurance and think it is right, it would be legally possible for them to introduce it.” According to the Basic Law, the federal states would have the legislative competence for this – insofar as the federal government itself had not made any regulations.
The introduction of compulsory insurance against natural hazards for all building owners recently led to a dispute between the political levels. The federal states had spoken out in favor of the measure in June. Compulsory insurance makes sense, as the natural disaster in the Ahr Valley showed all the more, said Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer recently.
The flood in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia had one Insurance damage of around 8.5 billion euros and thus revealed that a large proportion of the affected buildings were not adequately insured against natural hazards. According to the General Association of Insurers (GDV), almost half of German homeowners would have to take out additional insurance if they were required to insure themselves against such damage. The usual building insurance covers storm and hail, but not high water, flooding or landslides.
The federal and state governments agreed in the summer
The states had planned for the federal government to draw up a proposal for a regulation by the end of the year. Nothing will come of this for the time being. Justice Minister Buschmann spoke out against compulsory insurance at the Prime Ministers’ Conference (MPK) on Thursday.
In the summer, the federal and state governments agreed on the introduction of such an insurance as a consequence of the 2021 flood disaster, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) after the consultations between the states and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Now, however, Buschmann has refused compulsory insurance and has thus caused “astonishment”. The topic will now be examined again and discussed again next year.
Both Wüst and Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) warned against delaying compulsory insurance for a long time. “We believe that compulsory insurance is correct,” said Weil, who is currently chairman of the MPK. Natural disasters could hit anyone. In such cases, however, it is not right to always put together “huge special pots from public budgets”.