Self-administrating Cities
Since the district reform in 2011 only two cities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Hanseatic city Rostock and the state capital Schwerin, have maintained their independent status, implying that they are directly subordinate to the region, as opposed to a district. With almost 300,000 inhabitants these cities accommodate approximately one fifth of the population of the Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In addition to their municipal responsibilities, self-administrating cities also carry out the functions of a district. Their administrative bodies may go by different names: The ‘Stadtvertretung’ (city council) may be referred to as ‘Bürgerschaft’ (city parliament) and the ‘Bürgermeister’ (mayor) as ‘Oberbürgermeister’ (lord mayor).
However, the Hanseatic cities Greifswald, Stralsund and Wismar as well as the city of Neubrandenburg that had been self-administrating before the reform now hold the status of “large district-affiliated cities”. Moreover, they are the administrative seats of their respective districts.