FT.com / World / Europe - Twin helps west German town to tackle its shrinking population

FT.com / World / Europe - Twin helps west German town to tackle its shrinking population

Twin helps west German town to tackle its shrinking population
By Hugh Williamson in Erlbach, eastern Germany

Published: March 20 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 20 2007 02:00

Klaus Herold believes that every little helps when it comes to tackling the biggest problem facing his village - population decline.

"Last year in Erlbach, 13 people died but 14 babies were born. What a good sign for the future," exclaims the mayor of this east German community near the Czech border.

Like many western societies, eastern Germany is struggling to cope with an ageing population, with remoter areas such as Erlbach also hit by outward migration.

The village's population has shrunk by 15 per cent to 1,880 since 1990, with more than a third of those left over 60 years old. Mr Herold, 63, and his supporters have not only set about confronting this trend, they are helping others to do so as well.

On the strength of some early success, his village, in a hilly region 120km south of Leipzig, has recently entered into an unusual partnership with Battenberg, a town in the rich west German state of Hesse.

While Erlbach has for more than a decade been seeking ways to hold on to its population and better look after them, Battenberg has only recently woken up to the problem.

"We have been twinned with towns in the UK and France for years, but it is through our link with Erlbach that we can definitely learn something," says Heinfried Horsel, mayor of Battenberg, 110km north of Frankfurt.

The partnership marks one of the first public acknowledgements by west German politicians that they can learn from their poorer cousins in the east - challenging the "west knows best" view that has coloured German politics since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

About half of west Germans have never been to the east, according to a survey, and many see the ex-communist region as a source not of solutions but of problems, such as high unemployment, social malaise and far-right violence.

The Erlbach-Battenberg alliance is part of a wider agreement between Saxony, Erlbach's home state, and Hesse, where the state premier Roland Koch admits the east can offer pointers on supporting young families and re-gearing healthcare to older people.

Others are benefiting too. Saxony is part of a new alliance of 10 European regions, including northern England, which believes that within 50 years most parts of Europe will face ageing problems, says Georg Milbradt, Saxony state premier.

He is pleased that his state's efforts in managing a population decline from 5m to 4.2m since 1988 are being acknowledged. "The east has been something of a laboratory on this issue, so it's good that awareness is finally growing in the west," he says.

On a tour through Erlbach, Mr Herold highlights the initiatives that are helping to keep the population stable. The town has targeted European Union and regional funding not just into new roads and infrastructure but also into family-oriented facilities usually associated with larger towns, such as a new community centre with programmes for both old and young, an adventure playground, a school and a kindergarten.

More unusually, the town council in 2003 - the village's 700th anniversary - offered €700 ($930, £480) to each mother who had a child that year.

In addition, the 35,000 tourists who visit annually provide an economic lifeline, attracted by hill walking, an open-air local history museum and unusual cultural events, such as a yearly international wood sculpting competition.

Mr Herold says he hopes Erlbach will grow this year - several newcomers have dropped in to see him recently - and he is looking forward to using the new partnership to "give something back" to west Germany.

He also wants to learn from Battenberg, a town of 5,700 people, known in Hesse for its success in encouraging young couples to live downtown rather than moving to the suburbs.

But sharing starts small, he insists: "When the weather improves, I'll drive across to Battenberg, and its mayor is coming here in September for hill walking." As he says, every little helps.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007