''Gemeindeverband'' () is a union of at least two municipalities () in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to form a (

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

) with the purpose to exercise the powers of self-government at a larger scale, while maintaining autonomy of its members. The word is mentioned multiple times in the

German constitution The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved by the oc ...

(), but without an exact definition. The

States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

have slightly different kinds of a : (collective municipalities) to allow direct co-operation of municipalities: *

Gemeindeverwaltungsverband ''Gemeindeverband'' () is a union of at least two municipalities () in Germany to form a (statutory corporation) with the purpose to exercise the powers of self-government at a larger scale, while maintaining autonomy of its members. The word ...

in Baden-Württemberg *

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (, , ) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipulated municipal association ...

in Bavaria *

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

in Brandenburg *

in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern *

Samtgemeinde A (, ; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of Municipalities of Germany, municipalities, equivalent to the ''Amt (administrative division) ...

in Lower Saxony *

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

in Rhineland-Palatinate *

in Saxony *

Verwaltungsverband ''Gemeindeverband'' () is a union of at least two municipalities () in Germany to form a (statutory corporation) with the purpose to exercise the powers of self-government at a larger scale, while maintaining autonomy of its members. The word ...

in Saxony *

in Saxony-Anhalt *

in Schleswig-Holstein *

in Thuringia to allow direct co-operation of districts (), commonly summarised as higher municipal association (: *

Bezirk The German language, German term (; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ; derived from , "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * , a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e ...

in Bavaria * Bezirksverband Pfalz in Rhineland-Palatinate *

Landschaftsverband North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia *

in Lower Saxony

References

{{Authority control Types of administrative division