The three concerts on the weekend of Pentecost on the Rhine island of Grafenwerth in Bad Honnef may not take place: With an interim decision, the Administrative Court (VG) of Cologne ordered on Thursday afternoon that all preparatory actions for the concerts must be stopped. "In the interim decision it has informed that the final decision will be delivered to the parties involved today," explained Leonie Galler, deputy press spokesperson of the VG.

The concerts "Klassik auf der Insel" with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and soloist Colin Pütz on Saturday, Andreas Vollenweider & Friends on Sunday and Patti Smith on Monday are thus prohibited for the time being, although the defendants can appeal to the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster. The court explained that it was possible that the further erection of the stage and other structures would irreversibly violate the protection of the landscape conservation area ordinance or other nature conservation regulations.

In the meantime, criticism of the renewed lawsuit filed by the BUND Rhein-Sieg district group and its district spokesman Achim Baumgartner did not cease. As the FDP Bad Honnef explained, the people of the spa town are "appalled that Mr. Baumgartner, as a representative of the BUND, wants to have their island, which has also been a meeting place for culture for a long time and should remain so, deprived of this status", the Free Democrats explained. "With this, he wants to deny them festivals and celebrations and, preferably, entering the island at all. Although they can reach these concerts and their island without a car and on foot, i.e. in an environmentally friendly way," the FDP city association continued.

The fact that the environmental association is using the means of summary proceedings to prevent concerts that have been known for years gives the impression that "it is less concerned with the very important protection of nature than with depriving those involved in culture, the city and the visitors to the concerts of a pleasure", explained FDP Member of Parliament Nicole Westig. "With this, he makes himself and unfortunately also the BUND, which he represents, untrustworthy." According to the FDP, the animals living around Grafenwerth "have become more accustomed to many people arriving on the island by boat, or walking and/or strolling there, swimming or playing tennis, barbecuing or simply enjoying the Rhine, than some conservationists would have us believe." qm

The timing of the court's decision shortly before the first concert was solely due to the behaviour of the Rhine-Sieg district, the organiser and the city of Bad Honnef, Galler explained. The district had only granted permission for the concerts to take place on Monday of this week. The urgent application of the BUND was directed against this permission. And: Until a week ago, the district administration and the city of Bad Honnef had assumed, according to the VG, that the concerts could take place without such a permit. On Thursday morning, the Administrative Court confirmed the receipt of the urgent application at the Administrative Court, and already in the afternoon, the decision was made.

Concert promoter Ernst-Ludwig Hartz does not want to "give up hope yet", even after the ruling from Cologne, said the Bonn concert promoter in response to a GA question. "We want to exhaust our legal remedies and file an appeal with the OVG as soon as the final decision of the administrative court is available," Hartz said. He said he was "surprised" by the decision because "we have taken all measures". Hartz criticised the BUND's arguments. "The 100 decibels mentioned do not exist at all at the Grafenwerth concerts. It's not Motörhead or Rammstein playing," Hartz explained. If the concerts were actually cancelled, a six-figure sum would remain as damage.

Achim Baumgartner, meanwhile, defended the renewed filing of the suit on Thursday. In the context of the advancing climate catastrophe and the associated extinction of species, BUND was "after several attempts to resolve the conflict administratively since August 2021, taking action against the unlawfully planned and commercial use of a protected local recreation area", Baumgartner explained. The court also confirmed that "the responsible administrations ignored and failed to apply applicable law", said the BUND district spokesperson.

The rebukes that BUND and he in particular receive from politicians for this revealed "a great deal about the credibility and knowledge of these complainants". Others fell for "the misrepresentation that an island is to be cleared of people here, while the nature conservation association is precisely defending the right to use the island without restriction as a private individual free of charge. There must be room for civic events by the people living here, as the landscape protection area ordinance allows," he said.

Trouble over Grafenwerth concerts: BUND sees responsibility with authorities

This space is taken away from the limited resilience of the island's nature "when commercial concerts destroy the protected assets for their profit", Baumgartner finds. In his opinion, the "real culprits" for the possible cancellation of the concerts at short notice are "three administrations, namely the district government of Cologne, the district administration and especially the city of Bad Honnef". The owner of the concert area is carrying out planning contrary to the ordinance and is "not living up to its responsibility to think about and shape the protection of the island's nature, for example by selecting and adjusting the scheduling of events".

Original text: Mario Quadt / Translation: Mareike Graepel