Campaign to curb cars in Berlin sparks uproar ahead of election

Berliners will not elect their Senate until September, but the campaign is already under way in the German capital, with thousands of posters warning of an impending disaster: a ban on cars.

“Car ban. Banned,” reads one poster put up by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, which also leads the city’s governing coalition. “No car is illegal!” reads another by Alternative for Germany, the far-right opposition.

The uproar centres on a citizens’ initiative to restrict, but not ban, motorised traffic in the city centre — a deeply divisive policy that has become a culture war flashpoint in many countries, pitting environmentally minded urban residents against suburban commuters.

Berlin’s particularly charged debate also reflects the powerful symbolism the car still holds in the German psyche.

Kai Wegner, the CDU mayor seeking re-election, has dismissed the initiative as a “well-intentioned dream of an urban idyll” that would turn into a “nightmare”. Pro-referendum activists gathering signatures for a local referendum accuse him of deploying “smokescreens” to distract from what they call a “poor record” on transport policy.

The issue is so politically sensitive that even the Greens, long advocates of reducing car use in the capital, have stopped short of publicly backing the initiative for fear of an anti-Green backlash. The far-left Die Linke is divided, according to Oliver Collmann, one of the organisers. Only the Animal Protection party is actively helping to collect the 175,000 signatures required by early May.

Carmakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz were central to the German postwar economic miracle. In a country where large stretches of the motorway network have no speed limit, car ownership has long been more closely associated with individual freedom than in much of the rest of Europe.

“Germany is an auto-nation,” said Peter Mair, a local CDU politician. “It’s how people identify themselves — not just with their car, but with what it represents: the power of German industry.”

Berlin still bears the imprint of this legacy. Busy six-lane roads cut through the centre, often too wide for pedestrians to cross in one go. The ring road runs just metres from residential blocks. Squares that once featured gardens and fountains are now carved up by heavy traffic.

Yet a younger generation, more likely to use public transport or bicycles, is increasingly challenging the car’s sacrosanct status. About 28 per cent of residents within Berlin’s ring road own a car, compared with about 30 per cent in Paris and 38 per cent in London, according to local data.

“Politicians are still betting on cars, but many Berliners have already left theirs behind,” said Andreas Knie, a political scientist at the Berlin Social Science Centre.

While cities such as Paris and London have pedestrianised major arteries and reduced parking space, Berlin’s ruling coalition of the CDU and the Social Democrats has shifted towards a more car-friendly approach since taking office in 2023.

It has cut funding for bicycle lanes and softened plans to reduce parking. Speed limits in some areas have been raised to 50kph from 30kph. Despite spending cuts, plans to raise the residential parking fee — currently about €10 a year — have stalled. After opening a new section of the ring motorway last summer, Berlin plans to expand it by another 5km in the centre, including a new bridge over the Spree River.

Collmann says the group — Verkehrsentscheid, or Transport Referendum — is up against a powerful automotive lobby. He knows the industry well: he worked as a student at Daimler and has spent the past 15 years developing AI software for the sector. “There is simply an insane amount of money there,” he said.

The proposal would sharply reduce the use of cars inside the ring road, with exemptions for those who need them for work, as well as for people with disabilities, emergency services and the police. Supporters say it would reduce congestion, cut pollution and improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. They point to Paris and other cities as evidence that reclaiming space from cars can boost economic activity.

Gerald Stephani, another campaigner, said he wants his two children to grow up breathing clean air and moving safely through the city.

“There’s controversy everywhere at first, but once it’s implemented, people are happy,” said the 37-year-old environment consultant. “Sales go up, gastronomy, quality of life, tourism — everyone benefits.”

Even some CDU figures express scepticism about Berlin’s car dependency. Mair acknowledged the car is not the answer to mobility challenges in a growing, densely populated city. He disagrees with Wegner on the need to expand the ring motorway.

But he says the citizens’ initiative is “too radical” and risks polarising the debate. “People living outside the ring would effectively be prohibited from driving into the city centre,” he said.

Knie, the political scientist, also shares that concern — “It is too bureaucratic”.

At Winterfeldtplatz market in southern Berlin last weekend, opinions encapsulated the divisions. Susanne zur Nieden, a 69-year-old retiree, said she backed the initiative and vented at Wegner for coming out against the proposal: “That is bad. Every environmental policy has been torn apart here.”

Christian Bräuer, a 53-year-old cinema executive, said that “individual transport will remain essential, above all for the economy”.

“For my generation it is extremely difficult,” noted llya Kloppenburg, 52, a driver in the film industry.

“We complain about the lack of parking, but the problem is that there are far too many cars. It won’t be easy.”

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