It is not often the case in Berlin’s state politics that the coalition and the opposition agree – apart from nuances. After this year’s May Day, which was relatively quiet with 34 arrests, 39 investigations and five injured police officers, this was the case for once. Prime Minister Kai Wegner (CDU) and his Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) were satisfied and praised the police. But the domestic policy spokesman for the opposition Greens in the House of Representatives, Vasili Franco, also stated: “The trend towards pacification is continuing.”
Franco’s party colleague Clara Herrmann is convinced that the development is largely due to the increased use of toilets, waste bins and staff, especially in Görlitzer Park. At the end of April, the mayor of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district counted additional “park runners” – public employees who are supposed to point out compliance with rules in green spaces and prevent conflicts – as well as “garbage bins, especially for the many bottles” and toilets among “our measures to de-escalate the situation, so that it remains peaceful throughout the district on this day and people can enjoy a nice May Day holiday”.
The Green politician gave a detailed breakdown of the expected costs: 50,000 euros for park runners, 35,000 euros “for various toilets”, 94,000 euros for waste disposal and “focused cleaning” and 40,000 euros for the children’s and youth festival in Böcklerpark. In total, that’s 219,000 euros. Herrmann said her town hall was willing to provide 265,000 euros in total. Formally, that was correct. However, the money came entirely from the state government. And that, in turn, brought CDU MP Timur Husein into the picture.
The Christian Democrat, who lives in Kreuzberg, accuses Herrmann of misusing taxpayers’ money. In his view, the district, which has been politically dominated by the Greens for years, has violated budgetary law. The amount is – as the law states – intended for “expenditure for the planning and implementation of various cultural events as part of a de-escalation program for May 1st.” In an interview with WELT, Husein said that it could not be called a cultural event. “It is a folk festival like any other, except that it took place on May 1st. There was also no de-escalation program.”
Husein welcomed the fact that enough toilets were set up and more security guards were deployed than usual. “But the money is not earmarked for that. How you can prevent violence with cleanliness and park rangers is a mystery to me.” Herrmann’s justification was “far-fetched to ask the Senate to pay.” The CDU man spoke of “sleight of hand” so that the taxpayer would pay for green politics. “The 265,000 euros were actually intended for the MyFest. But Herrmann no longer wanted that because it bothered her party, as in their view it had too apolitical a folk festival character.”
The MyFest, which had been held in Kreuzberg since 2003 as a private initiative – with public support – was, according to cross-party assessments, a major factor in preventing serious riots, such as those Berlin experienced every year on May 1st in the 1990s. Herrmann did not support the event, which was criticized by Interior Senator Spranger. The Social Democrat is already at odds with the mayor over the planned fencing of Görlitzer Park; the Greens are taking legal action against the state government’s plan. Herrmann rejected the MyFest because the population did not want it in its old form.
Although it is not specifically stated in the budget law, the 265,000 euros were earmarked for the MyFest this year and next year – Spranger also pointed this out. After Herrmann cancelled the spectacle, the senator publicly expressed her “angry”. In a parliamentary inquiry, Husein asked Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU) for an assessment of whether Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg had behaved correctly.
In his response, State Secretary Wolfgang Schyrocki, representing Evers’ department, said: “It is being examined to what extent the funds were used appropriately by the district in the sense of the special provision ‘Violence Prevention on May 1st’. Since the final accounts are not yet available, no statement can be made on this.” If Husein’s suspicions are confirmed, the sum “can and will be reclaimed in full or in part.”
Herrmann denies the accusation. Her spokeswoman told WELT when asked that the funds were indeed “spent on de-escalation on May 1st” by ensuring that the district “created a peaceful and relaxed environment on May 1st in Kreuzberg through cleanliness and order”. The final cost breakdown has not yet been finalized. According to Schyrocki, there are still invoices from contractors that need to be included in the table.
What is clear is that – at least that is how the district’s response to WELT can be interpreted – the expenditure was significantly lower than the cost estimate that Herrmann presented to the local parliament at the end of April. Her spokeswoman announced: “49 toilets were installed, which, including supervision for continuous cleaning, cost a total of around 18,000 euros.” That is around half of the amount of 35,000 euros estimated before May 1st.
And no more than 50,000 euros had to be paid for park runners. “29 park runners (including operations management and coordination, including night shifts, radio technology and catering) cost around 20,000 euros with a total of around 340 man-hours of work,” the spokeswoman said.
Husein sees this as confirmation of his suspicion of trickery: “The fact that the mayor was so far off the mark with her cost estimate shows how dubious she is. Now that the matter has become a political issue, Herrmann is trying to downplay the costs for toilets and park rangers so that the damage doesn’t look so great.” He is curious to see what the district will list in order to arrive at the total amount of 265,000 euros.
The fact that the Finance Senator is taking the allegations seriously is shown by State Secretary Schyrocki’s response to Husein’s parliamentary inquiry. As it says, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg will not be allocated any funds for the special offense “violence prevention on May 1st” for 2025 due to the audit of the lawful use of the money this year. “The district has the option of registering funds for the matter as part of the basic correction for 2025.”
“Herrmann still hasn’t understood that the red-green-red coalition was voted out and that the CDU and SPD are now in power,” says Husein. “The mayor and her Greens can no longer do what they want.”
