Munich's Lord Mayor Reiter draws a critical balance sheet for the year: "A few things went badly"

Created: 12/27/2021, 06:14 AM

From: Sascha Karowski, Klaus Vick

Taking stock of a year in crisis mode: Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter.

© Marcus sleep

For Munich's mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), governing in crisis mode is nothing new.

At the beginning of his term in office in 2014/15, thousands of refugees had to be accommodated.

Corona has been dominating everyday political life for some time.

We talked to the 63-year-old about crisis management, his attitude towards vaccinators and his expectations of the new federal government.

Mr. Reiter, if we look down at Marienplatz, there is no Christmas market again this year.

How frustrating is it at the moment to have responsibility as the head of the city?

Since the beginning of my second term in office in spring 2020, it has only been about Corona every day.

To be honest, that has nothing to do with shapes or any improvements for the citizens.

The permanent crisis mode is not what you want as a politician.

But there is nothing else left than to face this task.

We have to do everything we can to ensure that a certain degree of normalcy will come about next year.

Germany is not exactly the world champion in managing the corona crisis.

Errors in the contact tracking of infected people have also happened in Munich.

Why are we lagging behind?

I do not know whether your question is formulated objectively.

The number of deaths would not prove that we are doing badly in an international comparison ...

... but with the vaccination rate ...

... the number of deaths is the worst effect of a pandemic.

But a couple of things must have gone bad.

Starting with the higher-level communication.

I remember how the Astra-Zeneca vaccine was talked to death.

Or Moderna.

It also creates little trust if citizens constantly hear new messages about the effectiveness of vaccines every three months.

The same applies when puffing around about the mandatory vaccination.

It would have been better not to formulate any final statements, but to simply say honestly: We do not know exactly whether the vaccination will be necessary - because we have not yet had a situation that is even remotely comparable.

Munich's mayor rider: "Karl Lauterbach is the best choice in the field and in the current situation"

Do you have any hope that crisis management will improve under the new Minister of Health?

Karl Lauterbach is the best choice in the field and in the current situation.

He's on the more cautious side.

That will change federal politics.

I think he wouldn't hesitate long to impose a federal lockdown if he deems it necessary.

At the moment I don't see this need.

A year ago you said that the IAA could not be held and the Oktoberfest could be canceled.

That turned out differently too.

Yes, it was a miscalculation, but at the time my firm belief.

Both are major international events, and that's why I created this link.

But there was a portable health concept for the International Motor Show, which would have been much more difficult to implement at the Oktoberfest in the short time it had.

I cannot understand the attitude of the lateral thinkers.

I would love to take some of them with me to an intensive care unit.

Munich mayor Dieter Reiter

Also in Munich there are suddenly demos from critics of the corona measures.

Are you annoyed by those who don't like vaccinations and lateral thinkers?

It doesn't matter whether I get angry.

I cannot understand this attitude.

I regularly visit intensive care units with corona patients and see incredible suffering.

I would love to take some people from Munich with me.

You don't have to have completed a medical degree to be able to say: For vaccinated people, the risk of ending up in an intensive care unit is significantly lower.

If you don't do it for yourself, I also see a certain social obligation to protect others.

Munich's mayor: Where Dieter Reiter finds the coalition agreement a bit meager

Regarding the new federal government: You have great expectations of the traffic lights and of Chancellor Scholz, whom you know personally.

What good can traffic lights do for a metropolis like Munich?

I have read the coalition agreement, of course, and I am pleased to see that many apartments are to be built.

For Munich, however, this is not the only salvific solution because we don't have enough space and we won't build everything up.

I would have liked more accents for tenant protection.

The coalition agreement is, to put it mildly, a bit sparse.

Lowering the cap from 15 to 11 percent will definitely not help those who can barely afford the rent.

Apparently, the smallest ally, the FDP, had to take a lot into account.

But I will not let up in taking my tenant protection demands aggressively to the federal government.

Who is your first point of contact?

I have a good connection with SPD party leader Lars Klingbeil.

And of course I'll get in touch with the new building minister, Klara Geywitz (SPD).

A social democratic building minister, for example, should ensure that the apartments of railway or postal cooperatives retain their social ties.

We still have several thousand apartments in Munich.

Otherwise, something must fundamentally change when it comes to land law.

If land continues to become so exorbitantly expensive, affordable apartments will not be created in masses in Munich.

Munich's mayor: That's why Reiter's first letter to the new building minister said

A ruling by the Federal Administrative Court on the right of first refusal in conservation statute areas thwarted the city's efforts to provide affordable housing.

Right.

It drastically restricts municipal rights when buying land.

I have already sent my very first letter to the new building minister on this matter.

And actually we need a tenant protection law that prohibits rent increases for a certain period of time - for example five years - in regions with a tight rental market.

To a certain extent, the new building land mobilization law creates such opportunities.

The ordinance required for this has not yet been issued in Bavaria - which annoys me enormously.

It seems to be a difficult finding for the Free State that the rental market in Munich is tense.

You had asked the new federal government to set up a local ministry.

Nothing came of it.

Unfortunately.

I would like to have a practitioner in the cabinet who sees himself as the voice of the municipalities.

A State Secretary would be enough for me as a link.

60 percent of the people in Germany live in metropolises.

But I will bring up this topic again at my next meeting with federal politicians.

The CSU strongly criticizes the fact that no Bavarian politicians were taken into account when the ministries were awarded.

Does that bother you as well?

So if one thing doesn't annoy me, it's where the ministers come from.

The geographical proportion is not the decisive criterion for the productivity of people.

The best people should fill the offices.

Incidentally: The Bavarian representatives in the last federal government were not the very best figureheads for the assumption that it would not work without Bavaria.

Interview: Klaus Vick and Sascha Karowski