The Covid-19 pandemic has robbed the city of much of what it actually is.
Mayor Dieter Reiter sums up the past months - and gives an insight into his emotional world.
No beer garden, no
Oktoberfest
, no theater or opera: There
was
not much of the
Munich *
flair
to be felt in
2020 due to
Corona
.
Mayor
Dieter Reiter
(SPD) in an interview about government work under the sign of the
pandemic
- and the town hall alliance with the
Greens *
.
What are the city leaders planning for
2021
?
Reiter gives a view.
Munich - Lord Mayor
Dieter Reiter *
(62, SPD *) has been back in the town hall office since Friday.
He was previously in
quarantine
for ten days
because his mother tested positive for
Corona *
.
On Monday Reiter visited
the new
vaccination center
together with Prime Minister
Markus Söder
(53, CSU)
.
These days: They are all about
Corona *
- like the months before.
In the
tz
interview, Reiter looks back on an extraordinary year:
The year has started well for you with the clear success in the OB election. After that, the months were dominated by Corona. When did you realize that this was not going to be a normal year?
Dieter Reiter
: Pretty quickly.
The election campaign was already dominated by the pandemic.
And an election party was out of the question, neither privately nor with the party.
Instead, it continued with meetings of the
city crisis team
.
For the first few weeks we were all quite surprised by the development.
Nobody knew more details, nobody knew how best to deal with the virus.
The only halfway understandable insight was to reduce the number of contacts - which
also happened
with the first
lockdown
.
But that it would not be a normal year was
clear to everyone
when the
Oktoberfest was canceled
(April 21, editor's note)
.
Not fun for an OB to have to say something like that.
Throughout the spring and summer, I had the slightest hope that we
might be spared
the
second wave *
.
Unfortunately it turned out differently.
What did you miss most this year?
Reiter
: Normality.
That you don't have to think about every step: Can I do that now?
Can i do that now
That you can meet friends or family without counting.
That you can
go to the beer garden
without a
mask *
and without entering your name - to the cinema, to the theater, to a concert without thinking.
The
Spider Murphy Gang
described the Munich attitude towards life
very well
with the song
It's summer in the city again
.
But none of that happened this year.
You
missed
the typical carefree
Munich flair
.
Beyond Corona, politics was still made - with a new green-red town hall government.
What grade would you give the coalition?
Reiter
: In terms of content, it went very well.
We have tackled the issues that were laid down in the coalition agreement.
There is still room for improvement in terms of communication and cooperation.
Expressed in school grades: a
two minus
.
But that's not a big surprise when I think back to the first three years with the
CSU *
.
I fought one or two ostriches with the second mayor.
The current conflicts are comparatively harmless.
And
I have a very constructive relationship
with Mayor
Katrin Habenschaden
.
After a good year in government with the CSU, you gave the coalition a straight two ...
Reiter
(laughs)
: Maybe my demands have grown.
In my last term of office as mayor, I want to move a lot - although Corona inhibits a lot and has enormous
financial effects
.
Of course, I would have preferred to think, for example, about how we can make the
square in front of the opera
something like a piazza in Italy for Munich residents.
But these are more of a dream projects.
The financial situation is simply different due to the pandemic.
That's why I'm not entirely satisfied, that's why I am two minus.
Are housing and social issues inviolable for you despite the financial crisis?
You have emphasized this several times ...
Reiter
: Definitely.
We will
not be able to save on
social spending
at all.
Because the effects of the Corona crisis will continue to affect many people next year.
And despite falling revenues, we will also
have to spend more money
in
education
.
For example, for
hardware
to ensure distance teaching in schools for everyone.
We must also take care of the elderly.
Which corona effects are you most concerned about: economic, social or health?
Reiter
: Clearly the health ones.
Especially after my mother falls ill, I know how quickly the subject of Corona reaches you personally.
I wasn't in quarantine voluntarily, but because it had to be.
The city has
set up and financed
things like the
corona test station
on
Theresienwiese
, or the
contact tracing teams
.
The question is how much money we will get back from the federal government or the state after the crisis.
Of course, the increasing division in society also plays a role.
But I think Munich is very cohesive.
Hopefully there will be a quick normalization when people can move freely again.
You have shown yourself to be an advocate of strict measures during the crisis.
Are you Munich's “Söder light”?
Reiter
(laughs)
: Naaa.
It is clear that from the start I implemented measures * that I felt were necessary and responsible.
In close exchange with Prime Minister
Markus Söder
, other representatives of the state government and of course my health experts.
The development shows that we did not take excessive measures - on the contrary, if you look at the current incidence values.
A
lockdown light
is just a lockdown light - with obviously too many possibilities of infection.
* tz.de and Merkur.de are part of the Ippen-Digital editorial network.