In February 1991, the minister presidents of the five new federal states [Länder] met with the governing mayor of Berlin to coordinate their positions in advance of a conference where they were scheduled to meet with the minister presidents of the other federal states and representatives of the federal government to decide on additional funding for the East German states. The Federal Government and the old federal states were particularly emphatic in demanding tax increases and the full inclusion of the five new federal states in the State Fiscal Equalization Scheme. At the end of February, the Federal Government and the minister presidents agreed to increase funding to the East German federal states by 34 billion Deutschmark for the period 1991-94; this was to be achieved, above all, by giving full consideration to the new federal states in the distribution of the sales tax.

This photograph shows the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Eberhard Diepgen (3rd from left), and the minister presidents of the five new federal states. From left to right: Manfred Stolpe (Brandenburg), Alfred Gomolka (Mecklenburg West-Pomerania), Diepgen, Josef Duchac (Thuringia), Kurt Biedenkopf (Saxony), and Gerd Gies (Saxony-Anhalt).