Berlin-Brandenburg

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Berlin and Brandenburg

Berlin-Brandenburg is the most popular name for a new state planned within the Federal Republic of Germany as part of the reorganization of the federal territory , which would result from the merger of Berlin and Brandenburg , which has been a topic of constant discussion since reunification .

In contrast to the mergers of other federal states, for which a federal law is envisaged according to Art. 29 GG , a merger of Berlin and Brandenburg would also be possible without the participation of the Federation according to Art . This requires the participation of the voters of both countries. In 1996, a merger agreement agreed by both state governments and ratified by both state parliaments failed due to the lack of approval in Brandenburg.

Nonetheless, both the Berlin Senate and the Brandenburg state government have specifically aimed for a merger up to around 2005 and have since advocated it at least as a long-term goal. Regardless of a merger, the two countries work closely together in various areas. Various institutions that are jointly or are responsible for both federal states are now called "Berlin-Brandenburg". B. Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Corporation and Berlin Brandenburg Airport .

Referendum 1996

state contract

At the beginning of April 1995, the governments of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg agreed a state treaty to form a common federal state. This restructuring treaty also contained the conditions for its ratification . It was signed on April 27, 1995 and received the necessary two-thirds majority of both parliaments on June 22, 1995. In the Berlin House of Representatives , of 241 members, 188 with two abstentions and 42 with no. In the Brandenburg state parliament , 64 of the 88 members voted yes and 24 no. However, ratification of the treaty also required the approval of parallel referendums in both countries. In each case, the majority of the votes cast was required, which had to comprise at least 25% of those entitled to vote in each of the two countries (approval quorum ).

Referendum

On May 5, 1996, these two referendums took place. While the Berlin population voted in favor with a narrow majority, in Brandenburg, with a participation of 66.38%, not even the required 25% ( quorum of approval ) of those entitled to vote did so . The contract would have failed even if all 63% of Brandenburg's no-voters had not voted at all. So the project failed not only because of the rejection, but also because of the lack of minimum approval from the Brandenburgers. Of the votes cast in Brandenburg, 36.57% were valid yes votes.

Berlin Brandenburg
Yes votes 53.4%
West Berlin: 58.7%
East Berlin: 44.5% 		36.57%
Vote no 45.85%
West Berlin: 40.3%
East Berlin: 54.7% 		62.72%
voter turnout 57.8% 66.38%
Approval quorum reached yes
30.86% 		no
24.27%

The referendum continued to ask, if both countries accepted, whether the merger should take place in 1999 or 2002.

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Root cause research

The non-approval of the Brandenburgers was mainly attributed to the numerical dominance of urban interests, which was not balanced in the contract (Berlin 3.4 million to Brandenburg 2.5 million inhabitants), to the non-citizen discussion about the merger and to the financial problems of the state of Berlin. In Brandenburg the fear is widespread that in the event of a merger the state could degenerate into the Berlin hinterland and, in addition to its identity, also lose financial subsidies to the federal capital .

The prevailing opinion in Berlin is that a merger would bring financial advantages for Berlin due to lower administrative costs. On the other hand, the threatened loss of the city-state privilege, which would result in disadvantages in the financial equalization of the federal states , is viewed critically . Furthermore, Potsdam was provided as the state capital in the merger agreement .

The governments of both countries had given up concrete plans for a new referendum in 2009, but they still adhere to the idea of ​​a merger, at least in theory, and repeatedly state in public that they are working closely together.

Cooperation between countries

Despite the lack of approval of the merger agreement in the referendum, the cooperation between the two federal states was intensified before and after 1996 and many authorities and other institutions were merged or jointly established, for example the state planning departments for the joint state planning department Berlin-Brandenburg or the public broadcasters ( ORB and SFB ) to Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). Joint specialist higher courts were also set up by a state treaty .

In the preamble of the State Treaty on the establishment of joint specialist higher courts of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg of April 26, 2004 it says among other things:

“The states of Berlin and Brandenburg belong together historically and, last but not least, share a common legal tradition. For many people they form a uniform living space. They are natural partners for cross-border cooperation. "

On July 1, 2005, the joint higher administrative court Berlin-Brandenburg with seat in Berlin and the joint state social court Berlin-Brandenburg with seat in Potsdam were established. On January 1, 2007, the Berlin-Brandenburg Finance Court, based in Cottbus, and the Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labor Court, based in Berlin, followed. The choice of location is clearly based on the agreements stipulated in Article 47 of the reorganization contract that was not concluded.

As early as April 2003, the two federal states decided to introduce a bill to the Federal Council that would create a federal law to merge the state insurance companies. Based on this law, the German Pension Insurance Berlin-Brandenburg was founded in October 2005 .

By January 2012, a total of 27 international treaties and more than 79 administrative agreements had been concluded between the two countries.

Many institutions that are responsible for both countries already have the designation Berlin-Brandenburg in their names. Here are some examples from different areas:

education and Science Health and social Broadcast and media
State Institute for School and Media Berlin-Brandenburg German pension insurance Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Berlin-Brandenburg
Education server Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Directorate Berlin-Brandenburg of the Federal Employment Agency Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences State laboratory Berlin-Brandenburg Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (film funding)
administration traffic Further
Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg Berlin-Brandenburg transport association Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg
State Office for Metrology and Calibration in Berlin-Brandenburg Berlin Brandenburg Airport Cooperative library network Berlin-Brandenburg
Hazardous waste company Brandenburg / Berlin ADAC Regional Club Berlin-Brandenburg DGB district Berlin-Brandenburg

Positions of the parties on a merger

The following comparison consists of excerpts from the party or election programs of the parties sitting in the Berlin House of Representatives or the Brandenburg State Parliament on the subject of state mergers or joint cooperation.

CDU (Brandenburg)

Berlin-Brandenburg
The CDU Brandenburg is committed to the goal of a common federal state Berlin and Brandenburg. The economic and institutional interdependence is already greater than between any other country in the Federal Republic of Germany. The existing potential of the Berlin / Brandenburg metropolitan region can be developed and used much better. With a policy of small steps, we want to continue to work towards ensuring that the merger of countries finds broad approval among the population. This is the only way to work together. The state capital of a common state should be Potsdam.

The Left (Brandenburg)

Brandenburg-Berlin - a region in the middle of Europe, part of the One World
We are sticking with it: Brandenburg is more than the metropolitan region around Berlin. Its relations with the federal capital are not only conceivable in the form of a state merger. We want intensive cooperation with Berlin for mutual benefit. What could be more natural than to jointly face the really existential challenges that arise for the entire region from climate change, the energy problem and the European competition between locations. The agenda includes an integrated educational landscape and infrastructure, a common concept for water supply and climate protection, an energy network, a merger of economic development and coordinated cooperation with neighboring Polish voivodships. Another potential lies in linking the promotion of future industries. For the design of the cooperation, we want to carefully consider the experience from almost 20 years of cooperation and competition.

Alliance 90 / The Greens (Brandenburg)

State merger still necessary
The state governments of Brandenburg and Berlin have talked the future project 'land merger' to death. Instead of dealing with the justified fears and objections, especially in the parts of the state far from Berlin, the state government has made the gut feeling of many the guideline of its policy in a populist way. Instead of submitting a joint future concept for Berlin-Brandenburg to the population for voting and thus also documenting the will to shape the political agenda, the state government and the Berlin Senate have withdrawn from a 'cold fusion': a situation is to be created through increasing cooperation, amalgamation and relocations which at some point makes the approval of the population appear to be the logical consequence of a union that has actually already taken place at the administrative level. But this process of ongoing cross-border cooperation has stalled. It was not possible on either side to overcome provincialism. We had already drawn up a draft constitution and a concept for regulating the different indebtedness of the two countries for the 2004 state elections. The guiding principle of these proposals was to secure equal living conditions in a common country, to strengthen the citizens' right to have a say, to establish administrative structures close to the people and to consolidate finances in a common federal state. We will continue to develop this concept and the draft constitution. Brandenburg and Berlin form a common region which, with its peripheral and urban areas, has a solid development opportunity only if all forces work together. Demographic change calls on all political and social forces to take concerted action for the region's viability. Small states and wagons have no place here. We therefore advocate that Brandenburg say goodbye to the provincial inland view and - together with Berlin - prepare a new attempt for a common federal state.

FDP (Berlin)

Our goal: Berlin-Brandenburg - model region of the liberal civil society
The merger of Berlin with Brandenburg to form a new, strong federal state remains the outstanding goal of Berlin politics. With almost six million inhabitants, the common federal state can play a much stronger political role in the concert of the federal states and in the competition of the European regions than the two states Berlin and Brandenburg each individually. A successful merger would be a milestone in the reform of the federal system and an important sign that state reorganizations are possible. The new federal state would thus become an important pioneer in reform. Berlin-Brandenburg has the unique opportunity to break new ground as a model region for a liberal civil society in Germany. To this end, the citizens must increase the pressure on politics in a sustainable manner so that administration and regulations, regulations and unjustified interventions in the lives of the individual are massively pushed back. Berliners and Brandenburgers have to make it clear that they want to organize their community as independently as possible. Only in this way can the merger take place in the interests of the citizens. Only a new federal state that gives the citizens more responsibility will unleash strong economic dynamism and thus be able to offer Berliners and Brandenburgers prospects in the region. A strong economy and high numbers of employees are prerequisites for permanent and reliable financing of public infrastructure - be it in the transport sector, at schools, universities and research, in the judicial system or basic social security. Especially in the former heartland of Prussia, the citizens should take on a pioneering role in overcoming authoritarian thinking. In a country where social and religious tolerance is a centuries-old tradition, it is time to self-confidently demand greater freedom from its citizens in everyday life.

Pirate Party (Berlin)

New referendum to merge Berlin and Brandenburg The Pirate Party Berlin is campaigning for a referendum with the question of whether the merger of the state of Brandenburg and the city-state of Berlin should take place. In addition, it makes sense to query a time horizon (next 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, ...).

Historical background

Berlin has belonged to the Mark Brandenburg since the Middle Ages and was its most important center for half a millennium, from 1710 also the capital and residence of Prussia and at times the capital of the Prussian province of Brandenburg formed in 1815 . It was not until 1881 that Berlin, as the capital of the German Empire, received the special status of an urban district , which, however, was never comparable to that of a city-state . The outstanding position of the city of Berlin within the province of Brandenburg was strengthened with the formation of Greater Berlin in 1920.

The independence of Berlin - within these boundaries of Greater Berlin - as a state was a result of the Potsdam Conference of 1945, at which the subdivision of Germany and Berlin into Allied occupation zones was decided. This sealed the division of Germany and the resulting West Berlin , especially after the construction of the Wall in 1961, was separated from the surrounding Brandenburg region. While West Berlin was de facto a West German country between 1949 and 1990, despite Allied reservations , East Berlin, as the capital of the GDR, became a district in its centralized administrative structure. It was not until the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990 that all of Berlin became a fully fledged state of the Federal Republic of Germany. In contrast to the case of the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen , Berlin's federal sovereignty does not have a long historical tradition. The emotional reservations of the Berlin population about losing their status as a city-state are therefore comparatively low. In this respect, a merger of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg is a little closer than in the case of the reorganizations in northern Germany, which are also repeatedly discussed (e.g. Bremen / Lower Saxony or Hamburg / Schleswig-Holstein ).

Naming

In the course of the debate, various names were discussed for the new land that would result from the possible merger.

Prussia

In 2002, the then Brandenburg Minister of Social Affairs, Alwin Ziel, suggested naming the planned new federal state “ Prussia ”, which met with mixed feedback.

The “Prussia” proposal is explained by the fact that the Brandenburg Margrave and Elector Friedrich I was the first to bear the title of King in Prussia , who became King of Prussia under Friedrich II . However, the naming would be historically wrong, because the name "Prussia" comes from the Prussians who settled in the so-called Old Prussia ( West and East Prussia ). The Mark Brandenburg has only so much in common with Prussia that it (like other areas) was in this country. Parts of the state of Prussia, such as the Rhine Province and the Hohenzollern Lands, were over 600 km from Berlin .

In addition, the renewed use of the name “Prussia” is controversial against the background of the historical role of the Prussian state. The name Prussia still arouses negative associations with the Prussian militarism of the German Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the positive role of Prussia as a pioneer of the modern state, as a land of reforms and civil progress, and as a haven of art and culture is increasingly recognized by the German public.

Brandenburg

The historically obvious name for the common land would be “Brandenburg” or “Mark Brandenburg”, since Berlin developed as an ordinary Brandenburg city and the separation only covers a historically short period of time (see historical background ).

Berlin-Brandenburg

The politically obvious name "Berlin-Brandenburg" is historically only of limited use. Although the explicit mention of Berlin is misleading from a historical point of view, this name is the only option against which there are no serious reservations. Community facilities in both countries have long had this variant in their names - for example the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB), the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) or the Berlin Brandenburg Airport - so that the public has long since slowly become accustomed to this double name .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law amending the Basic Law (Articles 3, 20a, 28, 29, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 87, 93, 118a and 125a) of October 27, 1994. In: Bundesgesetzblatt Part 1, No. 75 November 3, 1994, p. 3147 , accessed January 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b http://www.bravors.brandenburg.de/sixcms/detail.php?gsid=land_bb_bravors_01.c.13780.de Appendix 1 Art. 3 (1) of the law on the state treaties on the reorganization of the states of Brandenburg and Berlin (New State Agreement-NVG) of July 18, 1995
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wahlen.brandenburg.de
  4. ↑ http://www.berlin-brandenburg.de/politik-verwaltung/dokumente/staatsvertraege/index.html ( Memento from May 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ http://brandenburg-cdu.de/image/inhalte/5_wahlprogramm2009.pdf
  6. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dielinke-brandenburg.de
  7. ↑ http://gruene-brandenburg.de/userspace/BB/lv_brandenburg/landtagswahlprogramm/277506.landesententwicklung_den_demografischen_wan.pdf
  8. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fdp-berlin.de
  9. ↑ http://wiki.piratenpartei.de/BE:Antragskommission/LMV_2012.2/Antragsportal/Programmfrage_-_022
  10. ↑ Berlin-Brandenburg: Prussia's comeback? In: Spiegel Online . February 15, 2002, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  11. ^ Society: Do we want our Prussia back?
  12. ↑ Klaus Wiegrefe , in: Prussia's real glory: 200 years ago - the invention of the modern state , DER SPIEGEL 33/2007
  13. ^ Reforms of 1807 - How Prussia became a great power