The Regionalverband Saarbrücken is a ''Kommunalverband besonderer Art'', an integration of a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

(''Kreis'') and a district-free town. It is located in the south of the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. Neighboring districts are Saarlouis, Neunkirchen, Saar-Pfalz, and Forbach-Boulay-Moselle and Sarreguemines in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' Moselle.

History

The district Saarbrücken was originally created in 1816. In 1974, the district and the district-free city Saarbrücken were merged, and the new administrative body was named ''Stadtverband Saarbrücken''. Although it's not a district like others, most of its administrative tasks are the same as those of a district. On November 21, 2007, the governing majority of the CDU in the parliament of Saarland passed a law which transformed the ''Stadtverband Saarbrücken'' into the ''Regionalverband Saarbrücken'' on January 1, 2008. The most striking change by this transformation was the introduction of the ''Kooperationsrat'', a council of officials of the towns and municipalities which exercises some of the powers of

Municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

alongside the district council (''Regionalversammlung'', the local equivalent of the

Kreistag In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

). As the directly elected ''Regionalversammlung'' represents the population, while the members of the ''Kooperationsrat'' are picked by the towns or municipalities which they represent, there is a debate whether the competences of the not-directly-elected ''Kooperationsrat'' infringe on the constitutional right of the directly elected ''Regionalversammlung'' to exert all powers of Municipal corporation. Regionalverband Saarbrücken#Geschichte (in German), Retrieved July 12, 2013

Geography

The river

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

flows through the district, through the city Saarbrücken in the center of the district.

Coat of arms

The original district had no coat of arms, the Regionalverband uses a coat derived from the one of the Counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken. The silver lion is taken from the County of Saarbrücken, the golden lion is the lion of

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

Towns and municipalities

Politics

The bodies of the district ''Regionalverband'' are the administrator ''Regionalverbandsdirektor'', the district council ''Regionalversammlung'' and the additional council ''Kooperationsrat'', which is mainly composed of officials of the towns and municipalities. Regionalverband Saarbrücken#Politik (in German), Retrieved July 12, 2013

District administration

On January 1, 2008, Ulf Huppert ( FDP) became ''Beauftragter für das Amt des Regionalverbandsdirektors'', temporarily acting as Regionalverbandsdirektor. Regionalverband Saarbrücken#Regionalverbandsdirektor (in German), Retrieved July 12, 2013 The first ever election of the Regionalverbandsdirektor was held on June 7, 2009. As no candidate gained an absolute majority in the first round, run-off elections were held On June 21, 2009, which were won by Peter Gillo ( SPD) with 60.22%, with Rainer Grün ( CDU) taking 39.78% of the votes. Gillo beat Grün in all towns and municipalities except Püttlingen. The turnout rate of the run-off elections was just 21.2%.

District council (''Regionalversammlung'')

(Result of the elections of 2014)Kreisergebnis RV Saarbrücken -- Endgültiges Ergebnis der Kreistagswahlen 2014
(in German), Retrieved September 9, 2015

International relations

Saarbrücken is a fellow member of the ''Eurodistrict SaarMoselle''.

International partnerships

Saarbrücken has a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

with:

References

;Notes ;Non-English Wikipedia links

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saarbrucken (District) Districts of the Saarland