Berlin Finance Senator Evers Accuses SPD of "Freebie Politics" and Announces CDU Lead Candidacy

Dispute over free offerings

The background to the debate is the conflict that has persisted for years in Berlin's governing coalition over free education and social services. The SPD, as the coalition partner, had repeatedly campaigned in recent years for free offerings such as school lunches under the motto of tuition-free education. Evers considers this line unfinanceable and formulated the basic principle of his budget policy as follows: "Wir können auf Dauer nicht mehr Geld ausgeben als wir erwirtschaften."

Evers also directed concrete criticism at the Left party and its expropriation policy. "Die Linkspartei will mit ihrer Enteignungspolitik unsere soziale Marktwirtschaft zerstören, sie hat ein Antisemitismusproblem, sie will unsere Polizei schwächen. Wer das nicht will, muss CDU wählen," he said. He described it as right to "klare Grenzen zu ziehen" on socialization – the debate had "riesigen Schaden angerichtet und die Wohnungsnot verschärft."

Criticism of the Left and expropriation policy

Instead of spending billions on expropriation compensation, Evers said he would rather invest in infrastructure and housing construction – for example, on the edge of Tempelhof Field. "Natürlich müssen wir investieren, wo Berlin Nachholbedarf hat," he said. At the same time, he emphasized: "Deshalb haben wir schmerzhafte Schritte zur Konsolidierung des Haushalts unternommen. Und wir werden auch in Zukunft klare Prioritäten setzen müssen."

Evers also announced a change of course on bureaucracy and regulation. "Wir können uns viele teure Vorschriften schlicht nicht mehr leisten, zum Beispiel beim Bauen oder beim Datenschutz," he said. He links his fiscal policy line with the ambition to bundle investments specifically where Berlin has a need to catch up, while reducing spending elsewhere.

Cleanliness as a campaign issue

Another topic of the interview was the increasing dirtiness in the city area. "Berlin war nie steril. Aber die zunehmende Vermüllung ist inakzeptabel," said Evers. The state government is already responding with drastic fines and additional personnel to enforce the rules. "Das ist ein Anfang, reicht mir aber nicht," he added. At the same time, he introduced an idea of reciprocity into the debate: "Ich finde, wer staatliche Leistungen erhält und arbeiten kann, sollte der Gemeinschaft auch etwas zurückgeben – zum Beispiel, indem er dabei hilft, Berlin sauber zu halten."

In addition to the finance portfolio, Evers has also been responsible for the culture portfolio since the end of April. He is thus one of the few senators to lead two portfolios simultaneously in the current legislative period. His dual function is considered internally as evidence of the trust placed in him by the Governing Mayor, but could also become an issue in the campaign if the opposition denounces personnel bottlenecks.

Outlook on the campaign

With a view to the election date on September 20, Evers formulated the call to vote succinctly: "Wer das nicht will, muss CDU wählen." The CDU state executive wants to decide on his nomination as lead candidate on Monday. Should the executive agree, Evers would be the designated challenger of the incumbent SPD-led governing coalition and at the same time the most prominent representative of the conservative camp in the Berlin election campaign.

The interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was distributed via the dpa news channel and caused discussion in Berlin political circles over the weekend. Observers assess the appearance as the programmatic kickoff of a campaign in which the CDU is relying on a mix of budget consolidation, law-and-order issues, and criticism of left-green alliances. Whether Evers wants to carry or overcome the current SPD-CDU coalition under Governing Mayor Kai Wegner into the campaign with this line, he left open.