W Anyone who dares to venture onto the streets of Berlin these days can sometimes feel a little lonely. Especially after dark, you often struggle alone through the cold easterly wind that is currently blowing relentlessly from Finland towards the capital. One group in particular is rarely seen on the streets anymore: old people. They have largely withdrawn from public life.
No wonder. Taking to the streets here is dangerous these days because a mixture of freezing rain and political failure has turned the city into a black ice zone. Emergency rooms are full of people with broken ankles and limbs. This in turn has set off a political mudslinging over who is to blame for the misery.
As always, the ruling CDU is fully on the attack. Apparently the party has looked through the handbook of populism, which some CDU members are already very familiar with. In Berlin, people are still a little untrained in populism, so everything seems a little clumsy and embarrassing.
Strong words
The manual is actually quite clear. Chapter 1: “Strong Words”. After weeks of doing nothing, the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner called Suddenly there is a black ice emergency. However, this did not have the desired effect of being perceived as a doer. From local green politicians from Baden-Württemberg to CDU colleague Armin Laschet, everyone once again agreed: Berlin, this failed state, can’t even winter. But okay, as a state politician you are used to Berlin bashing. Keep your head up, keep going. You win some, you lose some.
Chapter 2: “Anti-parliamentarism”. Environmental Senator Ute Bonde (CDU) has been railing against the House of Representatives for weeks because it does not want to overturn the general ban on road salt, which is particularly strictly regulated in Berlin for environmental reasons. So Bonde moved on to Chapter 3: “Expanding Executive Power.” Via Trump’s executive order She quickly repealed the existing law by administrative decree – and allowed all Berliners to salt. This was accompanied by approaches from Chapter 4, “Flood the zone with shit”. A spokeswoman for the environmental administration dramatically announced that if you ran out of road salt, you should just use dishwasher salt. It doesn’t matter, the main thing is to get up there!
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And as is the case with populism: it works pretty well. The BSR city cleaning service pointed out that with the thick layers of ice, salt only thaws the ice and then causes it to freeze again. To the environmental associations that warnedNo one heard about the threat of tree branches breaking off in the summer anyway. And when the tenants’ association came up with the clever idea that they could ask the landlords, who are ultimately responsible for clearing the streets in front of their properties and also charge their tenants for this, the districts reported: “We are completely overloaded!”
But unfortunately, conservatives probably forgot to read Chapter 5, “Disempowering the Judiciary.” Trump addressed this by packing the Supreme Court with followers. In Berlin, however, we are not yet that far – which is why the administrative court was able to overturn the entire policy again last Wednesday. The executive order had no legal basis, complained the court. Salt is now generally banned again. And the roads are still slippery.