The sentences with this enormous explosive force for the town hall coalition are not just slipped out by Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD). Sometimes he lets off steam spontaneously when something annoys him; the sentences that sow doubts about the traffic turnaround and in particular about the implementation of the Radentscheid are deliberately set – in a written communication. “Just ideologically deleting parking spaces so that they’re gone doesn’t help anyone,” Reiter wrote last Thursday. And further: “I stand for a traffic policy that we make together with the people of our city. For me, luxury cycle paths in places where it is already safe to cycle are not included.”
If CSU faction leader Manuel Pretzl had written these sentences, some members of the town hall coalition of the Greens/Pink List and SPD/Volt would probably accuse him of populism. When the SPD mayor comments on two transport policy decisions in this way, not only shaving the coalition partner but also parts of his own parliamentary group, the fundamental questions arise: Does the joint project of the traffic turnaround and the Radentscheid still exist in the city government? And if so, how should it continue? How tired is the mayor of the Greens? And how tired is he of parts of his own SPD parliamentary group acting side by side with the Greens in the traffic turnaround?
The mayor’s anger was sparked by the two summer roads in the Au and Obergiesing and the planned new cycle path in Elisenstraße, but it has long been evident that he is distancing himself from the bike-loving Greens – and turning towards motorists. For the first time last December at an appearance in the Motorworld, an exhibition of expensive and old cars. “I was and always have been a car fan. I’m a car enthusiast,” said Reiter at the time, adding: “I believe in the future of the automobile.”
The coalition partner from the Greens does not do that, at most vehicles with electric drives should still be acceptable. Basically, the following applies: in the traffic turnaround, drivers and cars have to do without lanes and parking spaces in favor of bicycle traffic and new green spaces. There is support for this from the municipal climate council.
Thomas Auer, the professor for climate-friendly construction at the Technical University of Munich who sits on this committee, argues with the “blue-green infrastructure”, to put it simply: with water and trees. If you take the principle of the “sponge city” to mitigate heat and heavy rain seriously, you have to redistribute public space, reduce motorized private transport and redesignate parking spaces – this way you gain space for green spaces where water seeps away, oxygen is generated and the air is cooled. That makes it necessary to think about parking spaces, because the problem of space consumption cannot be solved with electric cars either.
If you ask Mayor Katrin Habenschaden from the Greens about the city’s climate and transport policy, you can read a reply to Reiter’s recent statements from her answers: “It’s not enough to adorn yourself with climate protection in election campaigns and then in practical action let five be straight or doggedly defend every parking space.”
Officially, however, the Greens will not be provoked by the Mayor. “We are working together to achieve the goals agreed in the green-red coalition agreement – in particular the turnaround in traffic. And we firmly assume that the SPD also wants that,” says parliamentary group leader Mona Fuchs. They downplay Reiter’s failure. “Controversies about smaller individual issues within the SPD must also be settled there,” says Fuchs. The work of the Greens is “not affected”.
Of course, the Greens know that this is only half the truth. In any case, the SPD parliamentary group seems torn when dealing with the traffic turnaround, even if its members deny it. It is said that one is not struggling with the question of whether a turnaround in traffic is necessary, but with the right way. In other words: the extent and pace are disputed. Also for strategic reasons.
Reiter’s wing sees no point in chasing green ideals for six years when it comes to the traffic turnaround, just so that the voters in the 2026 local elections choose the original, the Greens. In addition, some in the parliamentary group are very annoyed by the political style of the Greens, especially when it comes to fundamental issues. You hear words like “brutal”, “egocentric”, “just the pure teaching”. The compromise as part of political action is unknown to many coalition partners.
What you also hear: The Radentscheid as such must be put to the test. Many in the SPD also want new bike paths, but the maximum demands from the citizens’ initiative taken over by the city council are too expensive, too cumbersome and cannot be implemented quickly enough. More pragmatic, more extensive, that would work better without these specifications, is to be heard. However, only by part of the SPD faction. The younger city councilors in particular, who were specifically placed on the SPD list for the traffic turnaround, are more green than red here.
The Greens are counting on this, in the conviction that the Social Democrats, who are aware of the traffic turnaround, will sideline their own mayor – even if they will go with Reiter in the next mayor election, as it stands. The Greens see Reiter, the friend of fossil-fuelled cars, as a fossil himself. Katharina Horn, spokeswoman for the Radentscheid, perceives Reiter’s “blockade attitude” in the traffic turnaround. As mayor, he must take the goals decided by the city council seriously and campaign for the turnaround in traffic, she demands: “I expect a mayor to steer.”
One hears again and again from the ranks of the Greens that Reiter brakes during the traffic turnaround and delays measures with all sorts of tricks. But also that he basically couldn’t prevent anything; he had signed the coalition agreement, he had to stick to it. In this respect, they are quite relaxed about Reiter’s statements. In any case, the Greens do not see the future of the coalition in danger, because Reiter has not yet been able to organize a majority in his SPD for his dissenting stance.
The strategy is not without risk. If the SPD crumbles internally, the turnaround in transport could come to a standstill – without the Social Democrats, the Greens alone would not have a majority for their transport issues. There could already be a stress test this Wednesday in the general assembly of the city council: CSU and free voters have called for a review of the decision already made in the mobility committee on the cycle path in Elisenstraße. This could lead to the next vote, and then you will see how firm or how fragile the SPD parliamentary group is.