Berlin needs a new start. Maybe along the lines of Washington DC?
(Photo: Reuters)
The summit against youth violence ended with a lukewarm appeal that the riots on New Year’s Eve should not be repeated. Nothing else was to be expected. Berliners are used to it. There are repeated outbreaks of violence in the capital.
But the conclusion weighs more heavily. The capital has been governed undervalue for many years. The bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns don’t stop: the world community laughed at the years of disaster surrounding the new airport, marveling at the fact that the federal capital is not even in a position to properly conduct an election.
All major parties are responsible for this. One reason for this development is the decline of the political class. The time of the great governing mayors, starting with Ernst Reuter, Otto Suhr and Willy Brandt or Richard von Weizsäcker, is long gone. Political mediocrity rules.
>>Read also: “We have a problem with young men with a migration background in big cities”
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The Berliners and the companies didn’t deserve it. But one thing is already clear: Even after the state elections in February, the city will lack the economic basis for a powerful administration. Demands by the CSU for a reduction in funds for Berlin from the state financial equalization would make this situation even worse.
Since no change is in sight, Helmut Schmidt’s proposal should be reconsidered. As early as 2003, the former chancellor wanted to place Berlin under federal administration. Another consideration was to let the federal government manage and finance the center of the capital.
A kind of Washington DC on a small scale. The outskirts, on the other hand, could become part of a joint state of Berlin-Brandenburg. That sounds unrealistic at first. But no one could have imagined the reality.
More: On a night like New Year’s, doubts about the state grow