Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter increasingly sees himself as a mediator in the town hall. After seven years as mayor, he “discovered and found” this role, he said at a press conference on the balance sheet after a year of the green-red coalition in the city council on Monday. He tried to be “reasonably objective, not always to the enthusiasm of everyone,” when it came to “personally necessary mediations” within parliamentary groups, but also among parliamentary groups. That was a learning process for him last year because he is not a trained social worker, but rather someone who likes to make quick decisions. But mediation “in terms of content” is even more complicated.
On the one hand, Reiter was alluding to the atmospheric disturbances that were partly shaped by the beginning of the term of office. But he also alluded to the sometimes irreconcilable positions that had existed, for example, in transport policy. But it was precisely this role that Munich residents expected of him as mayor, Reiter continued: a balanced policy that not only takes special interests into account, but is there for everyone. He also wants to pursue politics “for all forms of mobility” in the future. His goal is to reconcile them and not play them off against each other. “That sounds easy and it is difficult, we will see it again and again.” The Greens and the SPD are just two different parties. But the most pleasant option is to negotiate with an ally “who is in agreement with our goals”.
The fact that the start of the coalition was complicated was due, on the one hand, to the personal communication made more difficult by the pandemic, Reiter analyzed. The initial “rumbling phases” have meanwhile been overcome; if there is still rumbling, then at least try not to carry the rumbling outwards. In addition, the many newcomers to the city council – more than every second member is part of the body for the first time – first had to learn that a coalition is primarily characterized by compromises. And then there were the poor financial conditions, Reiter spoke of the “worst household I have experienced in my time in the city”. If a “large three-digit million amount” is missing, one cannot just postpone a few small projects.
On May 3, 2020, the Greens and the SPD signed the coalition agreement for the next six years – in the small meeting room in the town hall, with a lot of distance. A year later, only the photo session took place in person, on Marienplatz – the political partners then drew their interim assessment via video conference at Zoom.
Munich’s second mayor Katrin Habenschaden (Greens) said that the coalition’s “drive and will” to redesign the city is still great despite the pandemic. 2020 was the year of restructuring and strategic orientation, for example with the setting of the course for the new mobility department and the outsourcing of the department for climate and environment. 2021 is the year in which the resolutions “that have to follow suit” will be made. The car-free old town is on the way, as is the “most ambitious local transport plan in a long time”. The important decisions on the issue of climate and environmental protection, which are so important for the Greens, are still pending, but they will come before the summer break. The responsible department is working flat out on the fundamental decision on the climate strategy – a “route description” on how to achieve a climate-neutral Munich by 2035. The target for the city administration is 2030.
One of the most pressing issues is and will of course remain living: In the coming years it will be a matter of increasing the target numbers in residential construction, said Third Mayor Verena Dietl (SPD). The merger of the municipal housing associations Gewofag and GWG, which the city council is supposed to resolve on Wednesday, makes an important contribution to this.
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