By Gunnar Schupelius
At the state party conference at the weekend, the delegates behaved in a fundamentalist and destructive manner. The SPD has lost sight of the city, says Gunnar Schupelius.
Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey was literally punished by her own party at the weekend. Only 58.9 percent of the delegates confirmed her as state chair at the SPD party conference. Almost half of the party is no longer behind her. In the last election in November 2020, she still got 89 percent of the votes.
Co-chair Raed Saleh slipped from 69 to 57.4 percent. Both ran unopposed and yet received so little approval. That’s why the result is downright crazy. The delegates behaved destructively. They dismantled the party leadership without coming up with an alternative.
Franziska Giffey and Raed Saleh were confirmed as SPD leaders, albeit with weak results Photo: dpa
That was nothing more than a massive own goal. Because party leader Giffey, who has been weakened in this way, is now even less able to assert himself against her coalition partners, who are attacking her on crucial issues: the Greens and the Left want to force the expropriation of large real estate companies and stop the construction of the city highway to Lichtenberg.
During the election campaign, Giffey spoke out in favor of continued construction and against expropriations, thereby winning votes from the liberal and conservative sides, thus strengthening the SPD.
The delegates not only punished her with a bad election result, but also stabbed her in the back on these two issues of all things: With a large majority, they decided to stop planning for the further construction of the A100 and spoke out in favor of an expropriation law if the The commission of experts set up by the Senate considers the expropriation of real estate to be possible.
The SPD delegates are not only turning against Giffey personally, but also against her pragmatic politics. She wants to decide about the Autobahn based on arguments. But the party no longer wants any advice, no professional consideration.
She even ignores her own local politicians who should know. For example, the SPD mayor of Treptow-Köpenick, Oliver Igel, who says: “The extension of the A100 to the east of Berlin makes sense and is necessary.”
The importance of the A100 for business and work is recognized more clearly in the eastern districts than in the west, where the autobahn is a matter of course. The extension was and is a requirement of reunification.
Without further construction, economic damage will be caused, explains IHK general manager Jan Eder: “For example, the potential of the commercial areas in the north-east cannot be fully used because the connection to the other economic centers of the city, to BER and beyond is still interrupted .”
The Berlin SPD is no longer responsive to such arguments. She has lost sight of the city. She fights against herself while she reigns. She will not rule much longer.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
