By Gunnar Schupelius
The former Governing Mayor reveals that he doesn’t know his city at all in one important respect. The frankness with which he does it is strange, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Michael Müller (SPD) gave the news magazine “Spiegel” information about his new professional life as a member of the Bundestag. He was asked what annoys him when he walks through his city.
Müller replied that he had noticed “that the city is dirty”, which he hadn’t noticed before. After all, he was only ever “driving in the limousines”. Now he is “out and about in the neighborhoods,” said Müller, he “cycles a lot and runs a lot.”
And then he repeated again how dirty Berlin was: “Now I notice it, very strange.”
The fact that Berlin doesn’t make a clean impression is certainly strange, but above all it’s well known. In addition to poor administration, Berlin’s biggest problem has always been the enormous pollution of the streets and green spaces. This bad reputation precedes our city.
Simply parked: a refrigerator in front of a house on Prinzenallee in Gesundbrunnen Photo: Peter Mueller
But did Michael Müller never notice it? How can that be? The man grew up in Berlin and worked here as a politician for 32 (!) years.
This is what his career looked like: seven years as a district councilor (1989 to 1996), 25 years as a member of parliament (1996 to 2021), ten years of which as head of the SPD parliamentary group (2001 to 2011), twelve years as SPD state chairman (2004 to 2012 and 2016 to 2020) , three years Senator for Building (2011 to 2014) and seven years Governing Mayor (2014 to 2021).
In this long time, Müller has not recognized the problem of pollution. For 32 years, was he never “out and about in the neighborhoods” or only with his eyes closed? What is he trying to tell us?
Illegal rubbish: an old mattress on Frankfurter Allee in Friedrichshain Photo: Sven Darmer
He reveals a aloofness that is often attributed to professional politicians. Do they really hover above everything and don’t get anything from real life?
Müller gives this impression. The frankness with which he admits that he doesn’t know his city at all is disconcerting. Cleanliness is important to people, they are annoyed by the dirt. Müller obviously didn’t know that and didn’t bother about it.
But if he didn’t have such an important topic in mind, what was on his mind? Did he know what was important and right? Let’s take residential construction: During Müller’s tenure, municipal housing was sold on a large scale by the Senate and later repurchased at much higher prices. Did Müller know what he was doing when he supported these decisions?
Now he is responsible for foreign policy in the Bundestag, especially for Japan, China and Korea. This week, Müller appeared in front of the cameras and explained why Germany would not supply tanks to Ukraine: simply because its allies would not either. At the same time, it was reported that the USA and France wanted to supply tanks after all. Hadn’t he informed himself again?
It doesn’t matter that Müller revealed that he didn’t know dirty Berlin. It gives you a deep insight.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]