Senior President Kurt Wansner settles accounts with the capital

By Stephen Peter

The state parliament met for the first time after the repeat election, and Wansner was allowed to open the session as the oldest member of parliament.

In his speech he settled accounts with the capital! He admonished the politicians: Take care of yourself, seriously solve the problems of this city.

► clans. Wansner: “We must be interested if certain criminal families in Berlin plan their raids throughout Germany. And when young migrants look to their clan leaders in their neighborhoods as their role models.”

► Garbage. Wansner: “On the way to the House of Representatives I drove past mountains of dirt. This indiscriminately thrown away dirt can be found on almost every street in Berlin. In addition, there is massive pollution in parks and also in public transport. A city that attracts many tourists from all over the world cannot present itself any more uncleanly!”

► Bureaucracy. Wansner: “Citizens have the right to a functioning administration. Waiting times of a few weeks and months for urgently needed documents must be a thing of the past.”

► housing shortage. Wansner: “We cannot afford for well-trained people to leave our city.” He called for “serious advancement of housing construction in Berlin”. Young people in particular cannot be said to have had bad luck.

Wansner’s attack was not well received by most MPs. Even in the CDU parliamentary group there was only restrained clapping. “The speech was not appropriate,” said one Union MP. “He shot very far beyond the target.” Group leader Kai Wegner (50) also did not know the manuscript beforehand.

Criticism comes from the possible coalition partner SPD: “Using the situation to get things worse from the election campaign was bad style,” says Tamara Lüdke (32).