NEWS FROM BERLIN

Refugee housing in oligarchs’ villas

It is a fact Russian billionaires have quite fancy mansions in London. But it is not so well-known they also own villas in Berlin’s southwest. The magazine “DER SPIEGEL” has discovered though such one, purchased in 2008 by the daughter of a close associate of Vladimir Putin, Arkady Rotenberg. Its owner appears to be a company called Rotex, and, according to neighbors, no one has ever lived there. So, why not give this mansion belonging to someone who has been on EU sanctions since 2014 to refugees, who are arriving from Ukraine every single day? Source: Exberliner.

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Baerbock calls for heavy weapons

Baerbock signalled her support for increasing EU military aid to Ukraine to a total of 1.5 billion euros. The heavy weapons Baerbock is now calling for raise a few questions such as when such weapons could be used in the Ukraine. In principle, the older the weapon system, the less complicated and faster its introduction into the Ukrainian army. Newer systems – often computer-based – require more spare parts and maintenance. Older main battle tanks, such as the first version of the Leopard, seem to be less complicated. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj specified his wishes and spoke of anti-aircraft systems, fighter jets, tanks and artillery. Source: nd.

Ready for the big hospital strike

On this Wednesday, the regional football club SC Rot-Weiß will not be cheered at the Niederrhein stadium in Oberhausen. Instead, more than 500 nurses and other workers from six university hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia want to come together for a “hospital council”. Their goal is a collective agreement for more staff and relief. The model for this is the successful collective bargaining movement at the public hospital operators Charité and Vivantes in Berlin. The organization ver.di is also calling on workers at the university hospitals in Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Cologne and Münster to take part in a two-day warning strike. Source: nd.

Who will be the next Minister for Family Affairs?

Anne Spiegel quit from her post on last Monday. The resignation was preceded by debates about her controversial holiday in France, shortly after the catastrophic floods on the river Ahr. There are already some indications of who could take over the post – and above all, who could not. Ricarda Lang (“die Grünen”) mentioned the next minister will be a woman. That means Anton Hofreiter, who had already narrowly missed out on a ministerial post when the cabinet was filled in December, will miss this out again. The possible candidates are the vice-president of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, and the two parliamentary group leaders, Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge. Source: nd.

“How wonderful freedom is …”

The number of survivors quickly declines. Günter Pappenheim, who went to Buchenwald as a 17-year-old apprentice because of his support for French forced labourers, died last year. He often gave speeches on the commemoration days of the camp’s self-liberation on April 11 1945 and repeatedly warned against the dangers of new right-wing extremism. The Ukrainian Buchenwald survivor Boris Romantschenko, killed in a Russian bombing raid on Kharkiv, was remembered on these days. Now only 16 former Buchenwalders could be present at this year’s commemoration. And organizations for the remembrance of history show concern about a divided commemoration of the coming 8 May, subject to partisan considerations. Source: nd.

Nine-euro ticket to come on 1 June and apply nationwide

The nine-euro ticket for regional transport could come into effect on 1 June at the earliest, when the Bundestag and its Council set the course in mid-May. And then in all federal states at the same time. Such decision will make that ticket possible in summer holidays, as well. In view of the increased energy prices, the federal government plans to finance a regional transport ticket for all citizens for nine euros per month for three months. This is part of its relief package presented three weeks ago. Berlin’s transport senator Bettina Jarsch (“die Grünen”) also mentions the relevance of such policy for climate protection. Source: rbb.

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Nine-Euro Ticket for BVG and S-Bahn to come on the 1st of May

It looks like, the Nine-Euro Ticket will become reality from the 1st of May on. The federal government is confident. However, in Berlin and Brandenburg people are skeptical whether it will work so soon. In 2023, fares could even rise. The cheap ticket is part of the relief package due to the high energy prices. For three months, monthly tickets for public transport everywhere in Germany are to cost only nine euros, and a working group of the Association of German Transport Companies is working at full speed on possible concepts. “But there is nothing concrete yet,” it was said in Berlin. Source: Berliner Zeitung.

“Enough!” Board woman from tenant scene resigns

A scandal at Wohnraumversorgung Berlin (WVB), which has been campaigning for a stronger social orientation of the state-owned housing companies since 2016. WVB board member Ulrike Hamann announced her resignation on Thursday. “Enough is enough! I am resigning as a board member of WVB.” “What I have been experiencing for over a year in my function as a board member of Wohnraumversorgung Berlin is not what the rent referendum was organised for, i.e, to secure social housing sustainably in Berlin, to win the right to the city for all and to stop the displacement of the poor from the inner city,” Hamann states. Source: Berliner Zeitung.

Berlin: More pro-Russia motorcades planned

Last Sunday, a pro-Russian motorcade with 900 participants drove through Berlin. The banned “Z” symbol was also visible. Politicians warn against further actions. The Senate fears there will be further actions by Russian nationalists on the “Day of Liberation”, on the 8th and the 9th of May. The Putin-affiliated motorbike club “Nachtwölfe” has not yet registered a demonstration. Franziska Giffey (SPD) said the action of the last weekend will be prosecuted, wherever under criminal law possible. “We cannot simply ban a registered demonstration under the slogan against discrimination against Russian speakers,” Giffey said. Source: Berliner Zeitung.

NEWS FROM GERMANY

First step towards energy boycott

The EU Commission has decided to stop buying coal from Russia. Spread over the whole year, this amounts to a coal volume worth about four billion euros. This is actually the first stage of a comprehensive energy embargo. And it would have a greater impact if Brussels and Berlin were to take this step for oil and gas as well. And yet this decision is a message to Moscow. Brussels and Berlin want to gradually dissolve the dependency they once created themselves. More precise details, such as when and to what extent coal imports from Russia could be stopped, are not yet known. Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Germany expels 40 Russian diplomats because of Bucha

According to the German government, 40 Russian diplomats were declared undesirable. “We have selected 40 people whom we attribute to the Russian secret services,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said. “We have decided that these people must now leave our country as quickly as possible,” she added. The Minister also considered is was “another consistent step against the Russian leadership, which is waging a horrifically brutal war against the Ukrainian civilian population”. The action also targets protecting Germany from lies and war propaganda. “We will not allow this criminal war of aggression to be fought as an information war in Germany,” said finally the SPD politician. Source: Nachrichten De.

Act faster against Nazis

It was just a couple of days ago the office of Left Party member Kati Engel in Eisenach was attacked. And who posed at the shooting booth at a public festival shortly before? Nationwide known neo-Nazis. This is not something unexpected. Anti-fascist research groups and left-wing politicians have long warned fascists want to build a “Nazi neighbourhood” in the city. It is true some of the groups, which were the target of that search have been observed, for example by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It seems however the security authorities are not an “early warning system” against the right. Source: nd.

Negotiations kick-off against Gorillas

“We are leading this process for the freedom of migrant workers,” said Duygu Kaya. The Turkish-born worker is one of three former employees of the delivery service Gorillas, who have filed an action for protection against dismissal. Last October, Kaya, along with over 300 other colleagues, was dismissed without notice. This was triggered by a spontaneous strike in which the workers criticized the precarious working conditions at Gorillas. But for the 33-year-old, the court case is about much more than just getting her job back: “It is the recognition of fundamental rights that we are talking about here.” Source: nd.

NEWS FROM BERLIN

First step for Berlin cycle expressway completed

The first steps of the initially planned ten cycle paths in Berlin have been completed. The feasibility studies “Reinickendorf Route” and “Mitte-Tegel-Spandau” were published on Thursday, as the mobility administration announced. According to the study, both routes are “legally and traffic-wise feasible” and have a “positive cost-benefit factor”. Planners have classified a total of nine of the ten planned express cycle routes as feasible. The exception is the “Spandauer Damm – Freiheit” route, which could only be implemented in one section. However, these are only proposals so far, the details of the individual routes have not yet been determined. Source: rbb.

New social centre opens at “Kotti”: help for drug-addicted and homeless people in Kreuzberg

Poor and homeless people gather in the public space, drugs are trafficked in the basement of the underground station. Many who stay here during the day experience enormously difficult living situations. “Kotti” hits the headlines as a so-called crime-ridden place. Against this background, Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) wants to set up a police station there, manned around the clock seven days a week. Elif Eralp (“die Linke”) is critical though of such measures once she considers “the conflicts that exist at the ‘Kotti’ cannot be solved with a police station.” Source: nd.

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Agreement reached in collective dispute of airport security workers

In the collective bargaining dispute over higher wages for security staff at German airports, an agreement has been reached between the services union ver.di and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS), according to union sources. There would be different increases in three steps within 24 months for the approximately 25,000 employees in passenger, personnel and cargo control, depending on the pay scale group. It will range between 4.4 and 7.8 per cent in 2022. The collective agreement will run until 31 December 2023 and was unanimously approved by the ver.di bargaining commission. Source: rbb.

Old paragraph, new interpretation

On Monday, Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) confirmed the “Z” symbol of Russian propaganda will be prosecuted in Brandenburg. Previously, the “Tagesspiegel” reported that this was also the case in Berlin, Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) has told the newspaper. “If the Z is used in connection with the Russian war of aggression, that fulfils the initial suspicion of a criminal offence,” says Stübgen, and the authorities would investigate this. Maximum possible punishment in theory: 3 years in prison. The ban has a legal basis, but in practice, there could be many borderline cases. Source: rbb.

What do you think about Russia?

On 27 February 2022, AfD leader Tino Chrupalla says: “We must not forget Russia’s contribution to Germany and Europe, especially in these days.” Chrupalla apparently finds it the right moment to say that as a German one must be grateful to Russia for unification – and for the Russian troop withdrawal from Germany in 1994. And then Chrupalla also opposes an old core demand of the AfD: “We reject a new arms race,” says the politician. Chrupalla’s view on the war and Russia is anything but consensus in the party, deeply divided on the issue as the entire far right. Source: taz.

Germany and its missile defense

With Russian missiles now falling on in Ukraine, German officials consider if it would be time to adopt a similar model and they are expected to get a briefing from Israeli counterparts on their options. The news has received broad support from across party lines. A direct Russian attack on Germany is still seen as unlikely. However, defense officials view an upgrade in military hardware as a necessary deterrent to eventual aggressions. Germany is considering a system like the Arrow 3, from Israel, but this would be operational by 2025. Anyway, the country would need a far more extensive network of radar and batteries than Israel, much smaller. Source: dw.

Warning of slump as in 2020

What damage would local companies, employees, and private households suffer if Russia stopped supplying gas because the West did not want to pay in roubles – or if the German government imposed an import embargo as a sanction after all? The debate takes place at the economic and political levels. If by one side a short time work like in 2020 could be a solution, one must realize natural gas is also a raw material, especially for the chemical, food, and metal industries. Some economists warn therefore of greater disruptions than during the midst of the pandemic. Source: taz.

NEWS FROM BERLIN

Berlin police face accusations of negligence due to racist right-wing attacks in Neukölln

According to the Berliner Morgenpost and the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) had information about a racist threat and a possible endangerment of the Berlin politician Ferat Kocak (“die Linke”). Nevertheless, the authority failed to warn him. The police themselves described it as a “wrong decision”. When the LKA received the threatening email from the “NSU 2.0” naming the home address of Kocak’s family in March 2019, officers should have been sensitised. Source: Morgenpost.

 Queer Berlin left to its own devices

The experiences Konstantin Sherstyuk has had in recent weeks could truly be better. For the association WostoQ-Regenbogen, which works for sexual minorities from the post-Soviet region, the 34-year-old advises queer people who must seek protection in Berlin because of the war in Ukraine. Not only Ukrainians but also Russians are involved. For more and more queer Russians, now seems to be the time to leave the country. Many of them are fleeing to Berlin. And, so far, there is only one contact point for sexual minorities, the information centre at the main train station. Source: nd.

Motion to dismantle the Thälmann bust

Pankow’s CDU, after Putin’s attack, wants the Ernst Thälmann monument to be melted down. Prenzlauer Berg councillor David Paul is proposing this historic site be removed from Berlin’s list of monuments so that the monument can then be demolished and the value of the material donated to aid projects in Ukraine. However, the demand of the Christian Democrats is regarded as highly questionable by the Senate Cultural Administration, led by the Left Senator Klaus Lederer (“die Linke”). This is not the first attempt to remove the Thälmann monument on Greifswalder Straße, designed by the Soviet artist Lew Kerbel. Source: Morgenpost.

The Expropriation Commission

The expert commission that is to examine the implementation of the successful referendum to expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co. in Berlin is taking shape. The Senate wants to decide on the formal establishment of the commission as early as next Tuesday. This would fulfill the promise to appoint such a body after the first 100 days in office. The commission is to work for one year on the issue of implementing the referendum. On 26 September 2021, 59.1 percent of Berlin’s voters voted in favour of socialising the portfolios of all private housing companies with more than 3,000 flats in the city. Source: taz.

NEWS FROM GERMANY

Another warning strike at airports in Germany

In the collective bargaining conflict in the airport security industry, the trade union ver.di has called for an almost nationwide warning strike on Tuesday. At the airports in Frankfurt, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, and Cologne/Bonn, the screeners are to stop work for the whole day. At Frankfurt airport, only transit passengers are expected to be processed. Last week there was a warning strike at BER in Schönefeld. According to the operator, two-thirds of all departures were cancelled then. A new negotiation date has been set for this Thursday. Source: Tagesspiegel.

AfD plays the victim

The federal budget for 2022 does not include any funds for the “Alternative für Deutschland” AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation. At first glance, this is understandable. The party and its foundation are full of employees who hold positions against human rights. So, a conclusion could be that they want to collect tax money to spread their ideology. The AfD sees behind many of such decisions conspiracies by the other parties to disadvantage and exclude them. Nevertheless, whether or not the federal government did so in the case of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation will be decided by the courts. Source: nd.

No end to cuts

Last year, the governmental coalition announced their intention to replace Hartz IV with a citizen’s income. One of the fundamental reforms would be to suspend sanctions for a transitional period of one year until the end of 2022. But the draft from the Federal Ministry of Labour considers that those who do not show up at the Job Centre for agreed appointments without a valid reason will still have to expect a reduction of the subsistence minimum. “By maintaining the sanction regulations for failure to report, the federal government is committing itself to the continuation of the majority of sanctions,” criticises the Paritätische Gesamtverband. Source: nd.

Future with old methods

Tesla plant in Grünheide shows the future, but from the past. It represents a departure, away from the carbon economy, for instance. But it is still about cars, which must park somewhere and get stuck in traffic jams. The raw materials are taken from the earth with environmental consequences. The location of the factory is in the middle of a water protection area. And then there is the matter of the trade unions. If Tesla pays better than the car mechanics in the region and the suppliers, there is to watch out there is no collective agreement, either. Source: nd.

More and more refugees from Ukraine are arriving in Berlin. In one week, the new arrival centre in Tegel should be up and running at full capacity. Meanwhile, an easing of the situation is not in sight. “This is just the beginning,” says Social Senator Katja Kipping (“die Linke”). In the coming days, the arrival centre in Tegel is to gradually increase its capacity until up to 15,000 people can be accommodated there daily. There are still plans to put the disused terminal at Schönefeld airport into operation. Next door, there is also a camp bed storage facility. Source: rbb.

Corona incidence soars in Berlin

After a decline, the incidence of COVID-19 in Berlin has risen sharply on Wednesday. According to the Senate, at least 8,834 people have been infected with the virus in Berlin within one day. Experts also assume there are many cases of infection which are not yet recorded. One reason for this would be the limited capacity of public health offices to follow up on infections. The incidence has also increased significantly in Brandenburg. The situation in the hospitals is largely stable, but there is no relief in sight. The Bundestag will discuss a new Infection Protection Act. The law is to be passed on Friday. Source: rbb.