Bonn Treaty well received Politicians urge expansion of Bonn as UN location
Bonn · Negotiators from Germany's governing parties reached an agreement this week to reinforce the Berlin / Bonn Treaty and there were calls for strengthening Bonn's role as a UN location. This was welcome news for Bonn politicians.
A couple decades ago when Berlin became capital of a unified Germany, replacing Bonn, a treaty was established to ensure Bonn not be drained of all of its political livelihood. An agreement this week to reinforce this treaty and calls to strengthen Bonn’s role as a UN location are welcome news for Bonn politicians.
When the Berlin wall came down and the capital of Germany was shifted from Bonn to Berlin, the Berlin / Bonn Act was established to regulate the movement of federal ministries and facilities to Berlin. The Berlin / Bonn Act of April, 1994 gave certain commitments to help preserve Bonn as a location of politics, ensuring the former capital would not be entirely robbed of its livelihood. So when the newly formed grand coalition negotiated in Berlin this week, with the partners committing themselves to a supplementary agreement of the Berlin / Bonn Act, this was good news for Bonn politicians.
“This shows that the efforts of our mayor to reach across party lines, were met with success. It is important that the Berlin / Bonn Act is maintained in principle, and with further agreements that the development of Bonn is sustainably secured and moved forward,” said CDU parliamentary leader Klaus-Peter Gilles. "We have long been calling for the Berlin / Bonn Act to be supplemented by a contract," said SPD fraction leader Bärbel Richter. She accuses the CDU of resistance to the agreement which has led to failure. Now, she sees the new contractual agreement as offering Bonn a great opportunity for security in planning.
For Brigitta Poppe, the spokeswoman for the Green party, she sees it as an advantage for Germany when not all of the political forces are concentrated in Berlin. “This is especially true for work related to the UN. The Federal Republic should be proud of its UN city of Bonn and further expand on it,” she said.
Joachim Stamp, FDP district chairman and vice-prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, also sees the Bonn Treaty as an opportunity to strengthen Bonn's significance as a second political center of Germany. "The special role of the UN location Bonn must be permanently expanded," he urged. "The Berlin / Bonn Act is a toothless tiger. A supplementary contract makes sense, then, if the enforceability of concrete and long-term commitments for Bonn and the region is made possible," said Michael Faber, head of the Left party fraction. His party friends in the German parliament would prefer, however, for all government ministries to be relocated to Berlin.
Orig. text: lis, ck. Translation: ck
