taz: Ms. Schedlich, do you actually enjoy watching sports?
Klara Schedlich: Yes, of course, all sorts of things.
taz: And your own sport?
Schedlich: At the moment I’m mostly bouldering, which means climbing without a rope to jump height.
taz: If you hear you talk about the Olympics, in parliament and elsewhere, you might think that sport is far from your mind – the Euro 2024 football tournament wasn’t really your thing either.
Schedlich: Exactly the opposite is the case. I love sport, and my ultimate goal is that everyone in Berlin, especially children, can do sport. I also like big events like the marathon. It is held professionally, the whole city can come to the track, our city benefits from it.
taz: And that wouldn’t be the case at the Olympics?
Schedlich: I consider the application to be completely hopeless and poorly organized by the Senate from the start. That’s why I think we should put the money directly into Berlin sports instead of into PR resources.
taz: But it’s only about 6 million in a 44 billion budget…
Schedlich: … but with which a lot of things could be done on broken sports facilities. You can only spend each euro once.
taz: But you could definitely be understood to mean that you would fundamentally reject the games – significantly different from the Greens in Munich, Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia as competitors. Why are the Berlin Greens the only ones against an application?
Schedlich: So, the situation in Berlin is definitely different than in other federal states. We have a massive problem with over 55 dilapidated sports halls and pools. No sports can take place there anymore – not even school sports.
taz: Partly because they are currently being renovated.
Schedlich: Not really. There is currently only enough money for a fraction of the sports facilities. This means that we find ourselves in a situation in Berlin in which we should first do our homework and let the basics work. We shouldn’t think about such major events beforehand.
taz: Not every gym in Cologne or Hamburg is currently usable. Nevertheless, the Greens do not reject an application there.
Schedlich: I can’t judge the condition of the sports facilities there. But I know the state budget in Berlin. I see that physical education classes are canceled and swimming courses cannot take place. That’s why I come to a different prioritization.
taz: Prime Minister Kai Wegner and Sports Senator Iris Spranger argue that the Olympic Games would give a decisive boost to the infrastructure.
Schedlich: Yes, they say that often. But why should even one swimming pool in the eastern part of the city be renovated because Olympic swimming competitions are being held in Berlin-Westend? There is no guaranteed positive effect on the infrastructure at all. First and foremost, the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, dictates how the Olympics should be held.
taz: Today’s IOC is no longer the much criticized one or two decades ago, which was one of the main reasons why the Greens successfully rejected the 2013 Winter Olympics in Munich.
Schedlich: Correct. But the IOC’s priority is still not to renovate school sports halls, but rather to have enough stands set up and to produce beautiful pictures for television. It is not a given that our small sports clubs benefit from this.
taz: Partly yes. In the southwest, in Lichterfelde, athletes still benefit today from the fact that the stadium was the training location for the 2009 World Athletics Championships and was given a new track.
Schedlich: Then we got lucky there. During the Euro Football, however, pitch heating apparently had to be installed in a Berlin stadium for the Austrian team, which is why several local clubs were not allowed to train there for weeks – and afterwards the Austrians were in a completely different place and didn’t use it at all. And even now no one uses this lawn heater.
taz: Especially for the European Football Championship – because you argue that the host city always pays more – you can hear from the Senate about a “city return” of over 1 billion euros, which is offset by the 84 million in expenses.
Schedlich: Hotel occupancy during the European Championships in Berlin was worse than at the same time in other years. This “city return” is very controversial and has no basis for calculation.
taz: Since we are so specific about money: Because in the end it would not be a Berlin application, but a German application, money would come from the federal budget.
Schedlich: Yes, the federal government would give a previously unknown amount of money. But it always remains a top-up deal for Berlin. And the federal government will certainly not renovate sports halls for school sports, but rather invest in venues. In Paris in 2024 it also ended up costing more than previously thought. And there the funds for sports facility renovations were blocked after the Olympic Games.
Schönefeld? Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner is proposing areas in Brandenburg for a possible world exhibition Expo in 2035. “An expo in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region basically offers great potential,” explained the CDU politician when asked. “Suitable areas for such a major event can be found in Brandenburg around BER Airport in Schönefeld.” The development of this region and the expansion of transport connections are a great opportunity, said Wegner.
Woidke Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) reacted cautiously to the debate about an expo in the country. “Berlin wants to apply, I heard,” said Woidke on the sidelines of a state parliament meeting. “I haven’t heard anything yet” about Brandenburg. About Wegner’s suggestion from Schönefeld, Woidke said: “Then you have to ask in Schönefeld.”
disagreement The Berlin Senate recently appeared divided on the question of a possible application for the Expo. Wegner has made it clear several times recently that he wants to concentrate on the Olympics and does not want to see this goal jeopardized by other debates; that is his priority. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) is also in favor of the Olympics and rejected an application for the Expo. Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD), on the other hand, believes both are feasible.
Olympia Kai Wegner wants to present the Olympic campaign for Berlin’s application on Friday in the Velodrome. Cologne, the Rhine-Ruhr region, Munich and Hamburg are also in the running for an Olympic bid. In Berlin, the “NOlympia” initiative is already scratching its feet and wants to hold a referendum on the issue. In the fall, the German Olympic Sports Confederation will decide which city it will recommend to the International Olympic Committee. (taz)
taz: Some people in the Berlin Greens obviously don’t think the Olympics in the city are bad, just like your party friends in the other federal states. Jörn Oltmann, the mayor of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, is even a member of the board of trustees headed by Kai Wegner for the application.
Schedlich: Jörn Oltmann and I don’t see it that much differently. But he comes to a different conclusion and I also think it’s good that there are voices in this group that also bring ecological ideas with them.
taz: Well, there shouldn’t be anyone on this committee who rejects an application like you do.
Schedlich: That’s why I’m not there.
taz: You are part of the NOlympia alliance. The leading figure there is Uwe Hiksch, who has already organized resistance to TTIP, the Hambach Forest and the transport transition. This can give the impression that the rejection of the Olympics is not a question of unrenovated Berlin sports facilities, but rather a fundamental one.
Schedlich: Our NOlympia alliance is united by the belief that we should put our money into our sports facilities instead of into an Olympic bid.
taz: In Hamburg, Munich and also in the Rhine-Ruhr region, the population can decide clearly in timely votes whether they want to apply or not. Would you be in favor of including something like this in the state constitution in Berlin? The Greens have long rejected something like this as a “referendum from above”.
Schedlich: If there had been enthusiasm in Berlin for an Olympic bid, civil society could have organized it. That’s what our constitution says.
taz: But that takes much longer. In Hamburg, the state parliament can promptly call a referendum with a two-thirds majority – which de facto means: This cannot be done without the opposition.
Schedlich: This is an interesting variant. With the NOlympia Alliance, we prefer to organize the referendum ourselves so that Berliners can vote on the application, as the constitution provides.
taz: Although it might be too late for that now, because the German Olympic Sports Confederation wants to make a decision in September and will know in advance whether the people in the applicant town are also behind it.
Schedlich: The train has left for Berlin anyway. Everyone who studies sports policy knows this. In Berlin, the concept for the games and the approval of the population are missing.