At the first meeting of the top candidates for the repeat election on February 12, the focus was on economic and energy policy. Kai Wegner, current opposition leader and CDU top candidate, accused the governing coalition of steering the city “in the completely wrong direction” through various remunicipalisation projects. “The city is not the better entrepreneur,” said Wegner. The planned repurchase of the heating network would improve neither security of supply nor affordability.
As the Tagesspiegel learned, the state of Berlin submitted an expression of interest in the purchase of Vattenfall’s shares in the district heating network last week. The Senate plans to provide further information on this on Tuesday.
Giffey against expropriations and for administrative reform
Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey, who spoke out more clearly than ever before against the expropriation of large housing groups and thus against the referendum, did not engage in an exchange of blows on energy policy and the role of the state in this.
She pointed out that Berlin’s economy had grown faster than the national average in the past year and particularly praised the restart program after the peak phase of the corona pandemic. She wants to ensure that the city “is one of the most competitive cities” in the future. A central component of this is a comprehensive administrative reform. Giffey announces that the outlines of this reform will be passed in the Senate on February 7, the week before the election.
There is a huge chance that we will come out of this crisis better than we came in.
Bettina Jarashgreen top candidate
Giffey’s coalition partners, on the other hand, explicitly advocated a regulatory state intervention in economic and, above all, energy policy. The green top candidate Bettina Jarasch announces that she intends to invest two billion euros in the transformation of Berlin’s energy supply. This is a prerequisite for “green re-industrialization”. “We have a huge chance of getting out of this crisis better than we got in,” said Jarasch.
Klaus Lederer, Senator for Culture and leading candidate from the left, cited the repurchase of the power grid and the founding of the Berliner Stadtwerke as arguments for a successful role for the state in the energy market. A majority stake in the district heating network and a takeover of Gasag are important steps towards making Berlin the “capital of the future”.
There was agreement on the centralization of administration
The FDP parliamentary group leader Sebastian Czaja turned against further state intervention. He promoted the “use of the innovative power of the economy” and referred, among other things, to the promotion of hydrogen technology. Czaja called the administration the “problem of all problems”.
All of the top candidates advocated greater centralization of administration in some areas and clear responsibilities. However, no one wanted to follow the FDP’s proposal to make the administration in Berlin one-tier in the future and to abolish the district offices.
The AfD top candidate Kristin Brinker initially had practical objections to Kai Wegner’s proposal to provide all roofs with solar cells. Statistically, this is not possible in Berlin, said the trained architect. Instead, Brinker advocated a resumption of nuclear energy. Berlin could become a research focus for this. “Energy must remain affordable,” Brinker summed up.
The discussion between the top candidates of all parties represented in the House of Representatives was organized by the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists (VBKI) in the Ludwig-Erhard-Haus and moderated by the Tagesspiegel editor-in-chief Lorenz Maroldt.
In a recent poll for the House of Representatives, the CDU is currently leading with 22 percent. The SPD and the Greens follow with 18 percent each. Left and AfD each have 12 percent, the FDP seven percent. The repeat election is taking place because there were numerous glitches in the regular 2021 election. The elections to the district parliaments are also repeated.
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