SPD politician Franzsika Giffey new Governing Mayor of Berlin
Created: 12/21/2021, 1:17 PM
From: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
The SPD politician Franziska Giffey was elected mayor of Berlin.
© Fabian Sommer / dpa
Franziska Giffey was elected and sworn in as the new Berlin head of government.
The SPD politician is now introducing a red-green-red Senate.
Berlin / Munich - Former Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) has reached her goal.
The Social Democrat was elected as the new Governing Mayor of Berlin.
So she replaces her party friend Michael Müller, who moved to the Bundestag after seven years in the Red City Hall.
The 43-year-old received 84 out of 139 votes in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (December 21), as Parliament President Dennis Buchner announced.
52 voted against and two abstained.
To win the election, the SPD politician needed at least 74 votes from the MPs.
Giffey is Berlin's new mayor: red-green-red Senate - women predominate in the government team
Giffey, who is now introducing a red-green-red Senate made up of the SPD, the Greens and the Left, was sworn in after her election.
Then she wanted to take over the official business in the town hall and appoint the ten senators.
Then these should be sworn in in the House of Representatives.
In addition to the head of government, the SPD has four senators, the Greens and the Left three each.
With seven women and four men, the Senate is more feminine than ever.
The government team wants to meet for their first meeting in the early evening.
The SPD, the Greens and the Left have been ruling Berlin together since 2016, but new faces predominate in the new Senate.
The coalition agreement for the next five years was presented on November 29th.
Subsequently, party congresses of the SPD and the Greens approved with a large majority, while the left said “yes” to a membership decision.
Giffey wins election in Berlin: First task right away - will take part in the federal-state summit on Corona
Berlin is now getting a ruling mayor for the first time - and for the first time since reunification a city head from the GDR. However, Giffey is not the first woman to run the city. Because in 1947/1948 the SPD politician Louise Schroeder officiated provisionally as Lord Mayor of post-war Berlin. Giffey already has a steep political career behind him. Within a few years she rose from the education councilor in Berlin's Neukölln district to the office of district mayor to federal family minister.
In May she resigned as minister in the wake of a plagiarism affair that cost her a doctorate.
As the top candidate in the House of Representatives election, Giffey achieved the historically worst result for the Berlin Social Democrats with 21.4 percent.
At the same time, however, she secured the SPD's election victory over the Greens, CDU, Left, AfD and FDP.
According to the RBB, she will be represented as the elected Governing Mayor of Berlin at the Prime Minister's Conference on Corona.
Berlin: Red-green-red coalition agreement in the capital - central points on housing, education and more
The
150-page long red-green-red coalition agreement signed
today
(December 21)
with the title “Berlin Capital of the Future” contains important points on topics such as housing, mobility, climate protection, education and security.
The coalition parties want to create fundamental changes.
The coalition partners want to build at least 200,000 new apartments by 2030.
In addition to the development of new city quarters, this is to be achieved through redensification and expansion.
The future state government also wants to establish an “alliance for new housing and affordable housing” together with municipal and private housing associations.
Participating companies should, among other things, commit themselves to a "socially acceptable rent structure".
In addition, the coalition parties want to achieve a sustainable and socially acceptable turnaround in transport - and to do so, expand local public transport.
Among other things, five underground lines are to be extended, the tram network expanded and the surrounding area better connected with buses.
The coalition wants to achieve a five-minute cycle in the city center and a ten-minute cycle in the outskirts.
The so-called climate check of legislative and senate bills is intended to strengthen climate-friendly alternatives and thus bring about faster climate neutrality.
When it comes to investments in climate protection, the coalition wants to focus on energetic renovation, solar expansion, unsealing of areas and the greening of roofs and facades, among other things.
In order to counteract the shortage of teachers, the three parties agreed to make teachers official again. Berlin abolished the teaching staff about two decades ago. The coalition also wants to abolish the probationary year at grammar schools and the so-called schooling of pupils in secondary schools. Further goals include the further development of the community school, an accelerated school building campaign and the expansion of school digitization.
The coalition also wants to strengthen the backing of various security authorities and strengthen the citizens' feeling of security.
For example, the police and the judiciary are to be given more staff, so-called contact area officers are to be expanded to cover the entire city, and the number of bicycle lanes is to be tripled.
Organized crime should be fought harder.
(bb with material from dpa and afp)