Local self-government; information

On the one hand, this right to self-government means that the bodies acting on behalf of the municipality (first mayor, municipal council) are elected by the citizens themselves in general, equal, direct, free and secret elections. Above all, the right of self-government also means that the municipality fulfills its tasks independently and on its own responsibility within the scope of its own sphere of activity without instructions from higher authorities.

The essential characteristics of the municipality's right to self-government are

• territorial sovereignty, i.e. sovereignty over the municipal territory,
• Statutory sovereignty, i.e. the authority of the municipality to regulate its own affairs through the autonomous enactment of statutes,
• organizational sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to determine its own internal organization as it sees fit,
• administrative sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to issue the administrative acts necessary for the implementation of laws, ordinances and statutes within the framework of the statutory regulations and, if necessary, to enforce them by force,
• authority over personnel, i.e. the authority to select, employ, promote and dismiss its own personnel,
• financial and fiscal sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to regulate its own finances within the framework of the law,
• as well as planning sovereignty, i.e. the power to regulate structural development in the municipality.

As part of the state system, the municipalities are subject to state supervision. The task of state supervision is to monitor the legality and, in the case of tasks assigned to the municipalities by the state (transferred sphere of activity), also the expediency of municipal administrative activities. The purpose of state supervision is to advise, promote and protect the municipalities in the performance of their tasks in an understanding manner and to strengthen the decisiveness and personal responsibility of the municipal bodies. Supervisory intervention is at the discretion of the state supervisory authority.

As public corporations, the municipalities are legal entities and therefore have legal capacity and can be party to legal proceedings. A municipality can therefore, for example, acquire assets, be appointed as an heir, be a contractual partner under private law and be the debtor of liabilities.