The recurring format · Reciprocity

State-Duties Index

“Contracts without a deadline are not contracts; they are hopes.

What the state owes its citizens — standardized, published, with an as-of date. Two levels, one status light, one highlighted duty each month.

Openly AI-written · Subversion Press
TWO LEVELS · STATUS LIGHT · SERIALIZABLESOURCE: VOLUMES 1–3 · VOLUME 3 · RECIPROCITY
STATE-DUTIES INDEXTHE HESITATION IN NUMBERS
The state's half of the contract

From a tile to a benchmark.

Citizens' duties are deadline-bound and sanctioned — the state's side was not, until now. The Index forces it into the same measurement logic. Filterable by domain and status.

The state binds its citizens' duties with deadlines and sanctions — its own half of the contract it binds to nothing. The Index makes the state's half visible: standardized, published, with an as-of date. What is measured is not what was resolved but what has actually happened.“Contracts without a deadline are not contracts; they are hopes.”

22
Duties
0
✓ met
7
◐ partial
15
✕ not
State Duty of the Month · 06/2026

Keep the share of on-time cases high

The on-time rate measures how often the state keeps its own statutory deadline. In the worked example of a federal agency: 38 of 100 cases on time. The citizen's duty alongside it is deadline-bound — and sanctioned.

On-time rate · share within deadline
38 %
Target: near 100%
Illustrative figures · 06/2026
Domain
Status
22 duties
Law · Level A not met

Conclude criminal proceedings within a reasonable time

over 1mopen proceedings
Target: falling · Estonia: end-to-end digital, no backlog
Public prosecutors · end of 2025
Law · Level A not met

Let no one go free because of excessively long proceedings

50released from remand
Target: 0
2025
Law · Level A not met

Enforce a final obligation to leave the country

~10%enforcement rate
Target: effective enforcement · 232,067 open (~82% tolerated)
AZR · 31.12.2025 · 22,787 deportations 2025
Law · Level A not met

Staff the judiciary adequately

~2,000vacant positions
Target: covered
Prosecutors / criminal judges
Law · Level A partial

Confiscate criminal assets

€228mprov. secured · ~€1.1bn proceeds
Target: Italy ~€20bn since 1982
BKA-Lagebild OK 2022
Security · Level A partial

Provide the means for defense

~€108bn2026 · ~2.4% GDP
Target: NATO 3.5% GDP — target 2029
Defense budget 2026
Security · Level A not met

Actually build up the force

~184,000active · target 460,000 incl. reserve
Target: gap >200,000 · by 2033/35
Bundeswehr · personnel
Security · Level A not met

Civil protection / shelters

a fractionof the population
Target: Finland 85–90%
Civil protection
Security · Level A partial

Secure the internal monopoly on force

~29,000knife attacks 2024
Target: falling · >9,600 serious
2024
Public services · Level A not met

Maintain infrastructure

€215.7bninvestment backlog
Target: falling · on course for 350–450 (2035)
KfW-Kommunalpanel 2025
Public services · Level A partial

Actually build with the funds provided

~€30/48bnbuilt
Target: full disbursement
a third went unspent
Public services · Level A not met

Maintain schools, roads, bridges

~€121bnschools 68 + transport 53
Target: a renovated stock
partial backlogs
Public services · Level A not met

Provide digital public administration

~11%services fully rolled out · DESI 18/27
Target: Estonia 99% online
Behörden-Digimeter 2026 · DESI
Social contract · Level A not met

Make work pay more than doing nothing

70–90%+marginal burden €800–1,400
Target: every hour pays off noticeably
effective marginal burden
Social contract · Level A not met

Honor the legal right to childcare

~306,000missing nursery places
Target: meeting demand
IW Köln · 2024
Social contract · Level A partial

Place people into work promptly

no standardprocessing time unpublished
Target: a published standard
BA · no official metric
Social contract · Level A partial

Recognize foreign qualifications on time

3-month deadlinefrequently exceeded
Target: Australia 1–6 months
BQFG
Procedure · Level B not met

Decide applications within the deadline

142 daysagainst a 90-day deadline
Target: ≤ the statutory deadline
Example · federal agency
Procedure · Level B not met

Keep the share of on-time cases high

38%on-time rate
Target: near 100%
Example · federal agency
Procedure · Level B partial

Be reachable digitally

54%reachability rate
Target: fully digital
Example · federal agency
Procedure · Level B not met

Compensate for delay automatically

does not exist§ 75 VwGO: the citizen has to sue
Target: a credit without an application
§ 75 VwGO
Procedure · Level B not met

Don't let silence count against the citizen

exceptiondeemed approval § 42a
Target: the rule — silence counts as yes
§ 42a VwVfG
ILLUSTRATIVE FIGURES · FIGURES FINAL-CHECKED BEFORE GOING LIVE · AS OF 06/2026